Philippine literature is literature associated with the Philippines from prehistory, through its colonial legacies, and on to the present.
Francisco Sionil José was a Filipino writer who was one of the most widely read in the English language. A National Artist of the Philippines for Literature, which was bestowed upon him in 2001, José's novels and short stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles and colonialism in Filipino society. His works—written in English—have been translated into 28 languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Czech, Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian and Dutch. He was often considered the leading Filipino candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Nicomedes "Nick" Marquez Joaquin was a Filipino writer and journalist best known for his short stories and novels in the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Joaquin was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature. He 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, Joaquin's major works were written in English despite being literate in Spanish.
Ilocano literature or Iloko literature pertains to the literary works of writers of Ilocano ancestry regardless of the language used - be it Ilocano, English, Spanish or other foreign and Philippine languages. For writers of the Ilocano language, the terms "Iloko" and "Ilocano" are different. Arbitrarily, "Iloko" is the language while "Ilocano" refers to the people or the ethnicity of the people who speak the Iloko language. This distinction of terms however is impractical since a lot of native Ilocanos interchange them practically.
Philippine literature in English has its roots in the efforts of the United States, then engaged in a war with Filipino nationalist forces at the end of the 19th century. By 1901, public education was institutionalized in the Philippines, with English serving as the medium of instruction. That year, around 600 educators in the S.S. Thomas were tasked to replace the soldiers who had been serving as the first teachers. Outside the academe, the wide availability of reading materials, such as books and newspapers in English, helped Filipinos assimilate the language quickly. Today, 78.53% of the population can understand or speak English.
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is an author and editor of 20 books. She co-founded PAWWA or Philippine American Women Writers and Artists; and also founded PALH or Philippine American Literary House. Brainard's works include the World War II novel, When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, and Woman With Horns and Other Stories. She edited several anthologies including Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and two volumes of Growing Up Filipino I and II, books used by educators.
Bienvenido L. Lumbera was a Filipino poet, critic and dramatist. Lumbera is known for his nationalist writing and for his leading role in the Filipinization movement in Philippine literature in the 1960s, which resulted in his being one of the many writers and academics jailed during Ferdinand Marcos' Martial Law regime. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communications in 1993, and was proclaimed a National Artist of the Philippines for literature in 2006. As an academic, he is recognized for his key role in elevating the field of study which would become known as Philippine Studies.
Rolando Santos Tinio was a Filipino poet, dramatist, director, actor, critic, essayist and educator.
Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo is a Filipina fictionist, critic and pioneering writer of creative nonfiction. She is currently Professor Emeritus of English & Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines Diliman and Director of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies. She was given the S.E. Write Award for Literature in 2020 by the Royal Family of Thailand.
Bienvenido Nuqui Santos was a Filipino-American fiction, poetry and nonfiction writer. He was born and raised in Tondo, Manila. His family roots are originally from Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines. He lived in the United States for many years where he is widely credited as a pioneering Asian-American writer.
Linda Ty Casper is a Filipino writer. She is a recipient of the S.E.A. Write Award.
Without Seeing the Dawn is a 1947 novel by Philippine author Stevan Javellana.
My Brother, My Executioner is a novel by Filipino author Francisco Sionil José written in Philippine English. A part of the Rosales Saga - a series of five interconnected fiction novels - My Brother, My Executioner ranks third in terms of chronology, after Po-on and Tree and before The Pretenders and Mass. In the United States, My Brother, My Executioner was published as a second part of the book, Don Vicente, together with Tree, another novel which is also a part of José’s Rosales Saga. Tree is the second novel of the historical saga, before My Brother, My Executioner. This novel was first published in the Philippines in the early 1970s.
Po-on: A Novel is a 1984 novel written by Filipino English language writer, F. Sionil José. This is the original title when it was first published in the Philippines in the English language. In the United States, it was published under the title Dusk: A Novel. It was translated by Lilia F. Antonio into Tagalog.
Twice Blessed, also known as Twice Blessed: A Novel, is a 1992 novel written by Filipino author Ninotchka Rosca. It won the 1993 American Book Award for “excellence in literature”. It is one of Rosca’s novels that recreated the diversity of Filipino culture. Apart from tracing back Philippine History, Rosca also portrayed contemporary Philippine politics, delicate events, and cultural preferences through the novel.
"The Day the Dancers Came" is a 1955 short story written by award-winning Filipino American author Bienvenido N. Santos. Set in 1950s Chicago, it is a classic work of the Filipino diaspora. Apart from being a Republic Cultural Heritage Award in Literature awardee, Santos was a Wichita State University Distinguished Writer in Residence, a National Award for Literature in Fiction recipient, a US National Award Endowment for the Arts Award in Creative Writing honoree, and a Southeast Asia Writer's Award holder.
Woman With Horns is a novel written by Filipino writer Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. The story was first published in Focus Philippines in 1984 and is part of the author's first short story collection, Woman With Horns and Other Stories. The US edition of Woman With Horns and Other Stories was published in 2020 by PALH/Philippine American Literary House. The title refers to a fictional character named Agustina Macaraig, an Ubecan widow, rumored to have horns. Brainard's character was inspired by fanciful folklore from Cebu, Philippines, where she grew up in and which inspired her to create the setting of many of her stories - Ubec, which is Cebu backwards.
Cry Slaughter! is a 1957 novel by Filipino author Edilberto K. Tiempo. Before the novel’s revision for publication in the United States, it was first published in the Philippines as Watch in the Night in 1953. In the United States, the renamed novel was printed four times by Avon in New York City. In 1959, Cry Slaughter! was published and assigned the number R306 by Digit Books. It had been published as a hardbound book in London, England. It had been translated into six languages in other parts of Europe.
Eleanor Rose Ty, FRSC, is a Professor in the Department of English and Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. She holds a PhD and MA in English from McMaster University, and a BA Hons from the University of Toronto.
Paul Goodman's oeuvre spanned fiction, poetry, drama, social criticism, psychoanalytic theory, and literary analysis. While he viewed himself as a man of letters, he prized his stories and poems above his other work. To Goodman, writing was "his vice" or "way of being in the world".
