English Quiz Bee Reviewer

• Francisco Arcellana, writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist, and teacher, is one of the most important progenitors of the modern Filipino short story in English
• Arcellana pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form
• For Arcellana, the pride of fiction is "that it is able to render truth, that is able to present reality"
• Arcellana kept alive the experimental tradition in fiction, and had been most daring in exploring new literary forms to express the sensibility of the Filipino people
• Arcellana's published books are Selected Stories (1962), Poetry and Politics: The State of Original Writing in English in the Philippines Today (1977), The Francisco Arcellana Sampler (1990)
• Francisco Arcellana: '"The names which were with infinite slowness revealed, seemed strange and stranger still; the colors not bright but deathly dull; the separate letters spelling out the names of the dead among them, did not seem to glow or shine with a festive sheen as did the other living names."'
• Some of Arcellana's short stories

  • Frankie, The Man Who Would Be Poe, Death in a Factory, Lina, A Clown Remembers, Divided by Two, The Mats
• Some of Arcellana's poems

  • The Other Woman, This Being the Third Poem This Poem is for Mathilda, To Touch You and I Touched Her
• Edith L. Tiempo is one of the finest Filipino writers in English
• Edith L. Tiempo


  A poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic
• Edith L. Tiempo's works are characterized by a remarkable fusion of style and substance, of craftsmanship and insight
• Edith L. Tiempo was born

  April 22, 1919
• Edith L. Tiempo died


  August 21, 2011
• Edith L. Tiempo's poems

  • Intricate verbal transfigurations of significant experiences
  • Revealed in two of her much anthologized pieces, "The Little Marmoset" and "Bonsai"
• Edith L. Tiempo as a fictionist

  • Her language has been marked as "descriptive but unburdened by scrupulous detailing"
  • She is an influential tradition in Philippine literature in English
• Together with her late husband, Edilberto K. Tiempo, she founded and directed the Silliman National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete City, which has produced some of the country's best writers
• Edith L. Tiempo's published works

  • The novel A Blade of Fern (1978)
  • The novel The Native Coast (1979)
  • The novel The Alien Corn (1992)
  • The poetry collection The Tracks of Babylon and Other Poems (1966)
  • The poetry collection The Charmer's Box and Other Poems (1993)
  • The short story collection Abide, Joshua, and Other Stories (1964)
• Bienvenido Lumbera is a poet, librettist, and scholar
• Bienvenido Lumbera


  • National Artist for Literature (2006)
  • Introduced Bagay poetry to Tagalog literature
  • Author of Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa, Balaybay, Mga Tulang Lunot at Manibalang, Sa Sariling Bayan, Apat na Dulang May Musika, Agunyas sa Hacienda Luisita
  • Pioneered creative fusion of fine arts and popular imagination as a librettist for Tales of the Manuvu and Rama Hari
  • Major scholarly works include Tagalog Poetry, 1570-1898: Tradition and Influences in its Development, Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology, Revaluation: Essays on Philippine Literature, Writing the Nation/Pag-akda ng Bansa
• NVM GONZALEZ was the National Artist for Literature (1997)
• NVM GONZALEZ


  Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez, fictionist, essayist, poet, and teacher, who articulated the Filipino spirit in rural, urban landscapes
• Major works of NVM Gonzalez

  • The Winds of April
  • Seven Hills Away
  • Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and Other Stories
  • The Bamboo Dancers
  • Look Stranger, on this Island Now
  • Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty -One Stories
  • The Bread of Salt and Other Stories
  • Work on the Mountain
  • The Novel of Justice: Selected Essays 1968-1994
  • A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stories
• NVM Gonzalez won the First Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940, received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1960 and the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining in 1990
• NVM Gonzalez became U.P.'s International-Writer-In-Residence and a member of the Board of Advisers of the U.P. Creative Writing Center
• In 1987, U.P. conferred on NVM Gonzalez the Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, its highest academic recognition
• Virgilio S. Almario, also known as Rio Alma, is a poet, literary historian and critic, who has revived and reinvented traditional Filipino poetic forms, even as he championed modernist poetics
• In 34 years, he has published 12 books of poetry, which include the seminal Makinasyon and Peregrinasyon, and the landmark trilogy Doktrinang Anakpawis, Mga Retrato at Rekwerdo and Muli, Sa Kandungan ng Lupa
• In these works, his poetic voice soared from the lyrical to the satirical to the epic, from the dramatic to the incantatory, in his often severe examination of the self, and the society
• Virgillio S. Almario has also redefined how the Filipino poetry is viewed and paved the way for the discussion of the same in his 10 books of criticisms and anthologies, among which are Ang Makata sa Panahon ng Makina, Balagtasismo versus Modernismo, Walong Dekada ng Makabagong Tula Pilipino, Mutyang Dilim and Barlaan at Josaphat
• Many Filipino writers have come under his wing in the literary workshops he founded –the Galian sa Arte at Tula (GAT) and the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA)
• He has also long been involved with children's literature through the Aklat Adarna series, published by his Children's Communication Center
• He has been a constant presence as well in national writing workshops and galvanizes member writers as chairman emeritus of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL)
• What Almario accomplished was that he put a face to the Filipino writer in the country, one strong face determinedly wielding a pen into untruths, hypocrisy, injustice, among others
• Cirilo F. Bautista is a poet, fictionist and essayist with exceptional achievements and significant contributions to the development of the country's literary arts
• Bautista is acknowledged by peers and critics, and the nation at large as the foremost writer of his generation
• Throughout his career that spanned more than four decades, Bautista established a reputation for fine and profound artistry; his books, lectures, poetry readings and creative writing workshops continue to influence his peers and generations of young writers
• As a way of bringing poetry and fiction closer to the people who otherwise would not have the opportunity to develop their creative talent, Bautista held funded and unfunded workshops throughout the country
• In his campus lecture circuits, Bautista updated students and student-writers on literary developments and techniques
• As a teacher of literature, Bautista realized that the classroom is an important training ground for Filipino writers
• Bautista was instrumental in the formation of the Bienvenido Santos Creative Writing Center at De La Salle University