Nicomedes Márquez Joaquín (May 4, 1917–April 29, 2004) was a Filipino aggressive at that time.

essive at that time. In 1929 he published Man Songs, a series of erotic

writer, historian and journalist, best known for his short stories and novels in poems, which the administrators in UP found too bold and was even fined
the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Philippine peso for obscenity by the Manila Court of First Instance. In that
Joaquin was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines same year, Villa won Best Story of the Year from Philippine Free Press
for Literature. magazine for Mir-I-Nisa. He also received P1,000,000 prize money, which he
used to migrate for the United States .

Joaquín was born in Paco, Manila, one of the ten children of Leocadio, a colonel
under General Emilio Aguinaldo in the 1896 Revolution, and Salome Marquez, a He enrolled at the University of New Mexico , wherein he was one of the founders
teacher of English and Spanish. Being read poems and stories by his mother, of Clay, a mimeograph literary magazine.He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Joaquin taught himself by reading widely at the National Library of the Philippines degree, and pursued post-graduate work at Columbia University.Villa had
and the library of his father, who by that time was a successful lawyer after the gradually caught the attention of the country's literary circles, one of the few Asians
revolution. This developed further his interest in writing. to do so at that time.

At age 17, Joaquín was first published in the literary section of the Pre-World War After the publication of Footnote to Youth in 1933, Villa switched from writing
II Tribune under writer and editor Serafín Lanot. Before publishing in the Tribune, prose to poetry, and published only a handful of works until 1942. During the
Joaquin worked as a proofreader of the paper. release of Have Come, Am Here in 1942, he introduced a new rhyming scheme
called "reversed consonance" wherein, according to Villa: "The last sounded
consonants of the last syllable, or the last principal consonant of a word, are
Joaquín deeply admired José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines . Joaquín reversed for the corresponding rhyme. Thus, a rhyme for near would be run; or
paid tribute to Rizal by way of books such as The Storyteller's New Medium - Rizal rain, green, reign."
in Saga, The Complete Poems and Plays of Jose Rizal, and A Question of Heroes:
Essays in Criticism on Ten Key Figures of Philippine History. He also translated
the hero's valedictory poem, in the original Spanish "Mi Ultimo Adios," as "Land In 1949, Villa presented a poetic style he called "comma poems", wherein commas
That I Love, Farewell!" are placed after every word. In the preface of Volume Two, he wrote: "The commas
are an integral and essential part of the medium: regulating the poem's verbal
density and time movement: enabling each word to attain a fuller tonal value, and
Joaquín served as a member of Motion Pictures under President Diosdado the line movement to become more measures."
Macapagal and President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Joaquin's first move as National
Artist was to secure the release of imprisoned writer José F. Lacaba. Later, at a
ceremony on Mount Makiling attended by First Lady Imelda Marcos, Joaquín Villa worked as an associate editor for New Directions Publishing in New York
delivered an invocation to Mariang Makiling, the mountain's mythical maiden. City between 1949 to 1951, and then became director of poetry workshop at City
Joaquín touched on the importance of freedom and the artist. As a result, for the College of New York from 1952 to 1960. He then left the literary scene and
remainder of the Marcos regime, Joaquín no longer received invitations to address concentrated on teaching, first lecturing in The New School|The New School for
important cultural events. Social Research from 1964 to 1973, as well as conducting poetry workshops in his
apartment. Villa was also a cultural attaché to the Philippine Mission to the United
Nations from 1952 to 1963, and an adviser on cultural affairs to the President of the
Joaquín died of cardiac arrest in the early morning of April 29, 2004. He died in his Philippines beginning 1968.
home in San Juan, Metro Manila. At the time of his death, he was editor of
Philippine Graphic magazine and publisher of its sister publication, Mirror Weekly,
a women’s magazine. He also wrote columns (“Small Beer”) for the Philippine New York Centennial Celebration
Daily Inquirer and Isyu, an opinion tabloid.
On August 5 and 6, 2008, Villa's centennial celebration began with poem reading at
Tatarin, a movie based on Philippine National Artist Nick Joaqin’s short the Jefferson Market Library, at 425 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) at the
story The Summer Solstice, was directed by Amable “Tikoy” Aguiluz and corner of 10th St. In the launch of Doveglion, Collected Poems, Penguin Classics’
reissue of Jose Garcia Villa's poems, edited by John Edwin Cowen, Villa's literary
released in 2001. The screenplay was written by Ricardo Lee. Nick Joaquin
trustee, will be read by book introducer Luis H. Francia. Then, the Leonard Lopate
was consulted on his portrayal. The cast consisted of famous Filipino actors Show (on WNYC AM 820 and FM 93.9) will interview Edwin Cohen and Luis H.
Edu Manzano (Paeng Moreta,) Dina Bonnevie (Lupe Moreta), Rica Peralejo Francia on the "Pope of Greenwich Villages" life and work, followed by the Asia
(Amada), and Raymond B. Bagatsing. Pacific Forum show.

Jose Garcia Villa (August 5, 1908 – February 7, 1997) was a Filipino poet, [edit] Personal
literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded the National
Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973,[1] as well as the
Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing by Conrad Aiken.[2] He is known In 1946 Villa married Rosemarie Lamb, with whom he has two sons, Randy and
to have introduced the "reversed consonance rime scheme" in writing poetry, Lance. They divorced ten years later. He also has three grandchildren.
as well as the extensive use of punctuation marks—especially commas, which
made him known as the Comma Poet.[3] He used the penname Doveglion [edit] Works
(derived from "Dove, Eagle, Lion"), based on the characters he derived from
himself. These animals were also explored by another poet e.e. cummings in
As an editor, Villa first published Philippine Short Stories: Best 25 Short Stories of
Doveglion, Adventures in Value, a poem dedicated to Villa.
1928 in 1929, an anthology of Filipino short stories written in English literature
English that were mostly published in the literary magazine Philippine Free Press
Early life for that year. It is the second anthology to have been published in the Philippines ,
after Philippine Love Stories by editor Paz Márquez-Benítez in 1927. His first
collection of short stories that he has written were published under the title
Villa was born on August 5, 1908, in Manila 's Singalong district. His parents were Footnote to Youth: Tales of the Philippines and Others in 1933; while in 1939,
Simeon Villa (a personal physician of Emilio Aguinaldo, the founding President of Villa published Many Voices, his first collection poems, followed by Poems by
the First Philippine Republic) and Guia Garcia (a wealthy landowner).He graduated Doveglion in 1941. Other collections of poems include Have Come, Am Here
from University of the Philippines Integrated School|University of the Philippines (1942), Volume Two (1949), and Selected Poems and New (1958).
High School in 1925. Villa enrolled on a pre Medical school medicine course in
University of the Philippines UP, but then switched to pre Law school|law.
However, he realized that his true passion was in the arts. Villa first tried painting, In 1962, Villa published four books namely Villa's Poems 55, Poems in Praise of
but then turned into Creative writing after reading Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Love, Selected Stories, and The Portable Villa. It was also in that year when he
Anderson. edited The Doveglion Book of Philippine Poetry in English from 1910. Three years
later, he released a follow-up for The Portable Villa entitled The Essential
Villa.Villa, however, went under "self-exile" after the 1960s, even though he was
Writing career nominated for several major literary awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
This was perhaps because of oppositions between his formalism
Villa was considered the leader of Filipino "artsakists", a group of writers (literature)formalist style and the advocates of proletarian literature who misjudged
who believe that art should be "for art's sake" hence the term. He once him as a petty bourgeois. Villa only "resurfaced" in 1993 with an anthology entitled
pronounced that "art is never a means; it is an end in itself."Jose Garcia Villa Charlie Chan Is Dead, which was edited by Jessica Hagedorn
- Finest Filipino Poet in English.Villa's tart poetic style was considered too
Several reprints of Villa's past works were done, including Appasionata: Poems in he wrote Florante at Laura—In fact, the events of this poem were meant to parallel
Praise of Love in 1979, A Parliament of Giraffes (a collection of Villa's poems for his own situation.
young readers, with Tagalog language Tagalog translation provided by Larry
Francia), and The Anchored Angel: Selected Writings by Villa that was edited by
Eileen Tabios with a foreword provided by Hagedorn (both in 1999). He wrote his poems in Tagalog, during an age when Filipino writing was
predominantly written in Spanish.

Among his popular poems include When I Was No Bigger Than A Huge, an
example of his "comma poems", and The Emperor's New Sonnet (a part of Have Balagtas published Florante at Laura upon his release in 1838. He moved to
Come, Am Here) which is basically a blank sheet of paper.'When I Was No Bigger Balanga, Bataan in 1840 where he served as the assistant to the Justice of peace and
Than A Huge later, in 1856, as the Major Lieutenant. He was also appointed as the translator of
the court. He married Juana Tiambeng on July 22, 1842 in a ceremony officiated by
Fr. Cayetano Arellano, uncle of future Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice
Jessica Zafra (born 1965) is a fiction writer, columnist, editor, publisher and Cayetano Arellano. They had eleven children but only four survived.
former television and radio show host. She is known for her sharp and witty
writing style. Her most popular books are the Twisted series, a collection of He died on February 20, 1862 at the age of 73. Upon his deathbed, he asked a favor
her essays as a columnist for newspaper Today (now Manila Standard Today), that none of his children become poets like him, who had suffered under his gift as
as well as from her time as editor and publisher of the magazine Flip. She well as under others. He even went as far as to tell them it would be better to cut
currently writes a weekly column for The Philippine Star which is called, their hands off than let them be writers.
Emotional Weather Report. She resides in Metro Manila, Philippines, where
she is working on her first novel. She also managed the Eraserheads during
the 90's. Balagtas is so greatly revered in the Philippines that the term for Filipino debate in
extemporaneous verse is named for him: balagtasan.

Her work often are about current events (both Philippine and international), tennis,
movies, music, cats, books, technology and her personal life. Her work has been the Works
subject of academic study. The main ingredient to her work is often fun cynicism
and irony.
• Orosmán at Zafira – a comedy in four parts

Educational Background
• Don Nuño at Selinda – a comedy in three parts
• Auredato at Astrome – a comedy in three parts
She went to St. Theresa's College, Quezon City , from prep school until 6th Grade. • Clara Belmore – a comedy in three parts
After which, she went to the main campus of the Philippine Science High School • Abdol at Misereanan – a comedy, staged by Abucay in 1857
then to the University of the Philippines and majored in Comparative Literature.
• Bayaceto at Dorslica – a comedy in three parts, staged at Udyong
on September 27, 1857
Francisco Baltazar (April 2, 1788 – February 20, 1862), known much more • Alamansor at Rosalinda – a comedy staged at Udyong during the
widely through his nom-de-plume Francisco Balagtas, was a prominent town's feast
Filipino poet, and is widely considered as the Tagalog equivalent of William
Shakespeare for his impact on Filipino literature. The famous epic, Florante • La India elegante y el negrito amante – a short play in one part
at Laura, is regarded as his defining work. • Nudo gordeano
• Rodolfo at Rosemonda
Early life • Mahomet at Constanza
• Claus (translated into Tagalog from Latin)
Francisco Baltazar was born on April 2, 1788 in Barrio Panginay, Bigaa, Bulacan • Florante at Laura, Balagtas' masterpiece
as the youngest of the four children of Juan Baltazar, a blacksmith, and Juana de la
Cruz. His older siblings were Felipe, Concha, and Nicholasa. He studied in a
parochial school in Bigaa and later at Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila . GRACIANO LOPEZ JAENA
During his childhood years, he wrote poems like "Mahal ko ang Bayan ko".
Francisco later worked as houseboy for the Trinidad family in Tondo, Manila. The
master of the house let him to study Technology, Philosophy, Humanities, and Born in Jaro, Iloilo in the Southern Philippines on December 18, 1856,
Canon law at the Colegio de San José where two of his former teachers were Dr. Bro. Lopez Jaena died on January 20, 1896 in Barcelona Spain.
Mariano Pilapil and José de la Cruz.
After circulating satirical novelettes against the Spaniards, he left for
[edit] Awards and titles Spain in 1879 to evade arrest. He is considered the greatest and most
fiery Filipino orator in Spain who denounced in stirring oratory the
abuses of the authorities in his native land.
Francisco entitled as the "Ama ng Balagtasan" A Balagtasan is a debate in a form
of a poem, the notable characters on it is the Tagapagsalaysay (narrator), The
Lakandiwa and the Lakambini, (Gentlemen and Lady) Other than that, francisco A gifted writer, he founded La Solidaridad, the propaganda
Balagtas won an award during his schooldays, graduated as valedictorian in mouthpiece for the reform of his native country. He was offered
Madrid. Francisco Balagtas also were recognized by the pahayagang Kastilyano editorship of a newspaper in New York but he refused saying: “my
and became the front cover for 2 weeks.
pen and my intellect belong to the Philippines and not to any
foreign country.”
[edit] Life as a poet
He was made a Mason at Logia Povernir No. 2, becoming its
Balagtas learned to write poetry from José de la Cruz (Huseng Sisiw), one of the Worshipful Master and later co-founded Logia Solidaridad 53 in
most famous poets of Tondo. It was de la Cruz himself who personally challenged Madrid. He is among the first Filipinos to be crowned a 33° Mason in a
Balagtas to improve his writing. (source: Talambuhay ng mga Bayani, for Grade 6 foreign land.
textbook)

A brilliant and dedicated Mason he lives enshrined in the hearts of his

In 1835, Balagtas moved to Pandacan, where he met María Asunción Rivera, who countrymen whose ideals espoused the phrase “the sword is not as
would effectively serve as the muse for his future works. She is referenced in mighty as the pen.”
Florante at Laura as 'Cecilio' and 'MAR'.

Balagtas' affections for Celia were challenged by the influential Mariano Capule.
Capule won the battle for Celia when he used his wealth to get Balagtas imprisoned
under the accusation that he ordered a servant girl's head be shaved. It was here that