21st Century Literature

• Literary canon is a group of literary works that are considered the most important of a particular time, period, or place.
• Pedro Bukaneg was a foremost Ilocano poet and Christian missionary born in Bantay, Abra.
• Pedro Bukaneg was born congenitally blind and was thrown into a river by his parents.
• A laundrywoman picked and brought Pedro Bukaneg to the local Augustinian monk, where he was baptized and given the name Pedro Bukaneg meaning a Christianized Itneg.
• Pedro Bukaneg studied at the Augustinian convent in Manila where he developed his eloquence in the Spanish and Ilocano languages.
• Pedro Bukaneg used his extensive knowledge of the Itneg dialect to teach Spanish missionaries heading north.
• Pedro Bukaneg is acknowledged as the author of one of the Philippines' great epics entitled Biag ni Lam-ang (Life of Lam-ang).
• Pedro Bukaneg co-authored the Ilocano-Spanish grammar book and dictionary.
• In 1621, Pedro Bukaneg took part in the publication of the first Ilocano book.
• Pedro Bukaneg's famous poem entitled "Patay" (Dead) shows his clear and vigorous philosophy on death.
• Many of Pedro Bukaneg's novenas, prayers and religious literature are in Ilocano, and edited by an Augustinian friar.
• Carlos Bulosan is the first important literary voice for Filipinos in the United States.
• Carlos Bulosan's most famous novel, America Is in the Heart, was published in 1946.
• Carlos Bulosan came to the United States from the Philippines in the early 1930s.
• Carlos Bulosan washed dishes, worked in canneries, and picked fruits and vegetables up and down the West Coast, including the area in the Salinas Valley where many of John Steinbeck’s novels take place.
• Carlos Bulosan eventually became a labor activist and tried to address racial and economic discrimination in the United States.
• Nicomedes "Nick" Marquez Joaquin (Tagalog: [hwaˈkin]; May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004) was a Filipino writer and journalist best known for his short stories and novels in the English language.
• Nicomedes "Nick" Marquez Joaquin was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature.
• Nicomedes "Nick" Marquez Joaquin has been considered one of the most important Filipino writers, along with José Rizal and Claro M Recto.
• Unlike Rizal and Recto, whose works were written in Spanish, Nicomedes "Nick" Marquez Joaquin's major works were written in English despite being literate in Spanish.