Estrella Alfon, who hailed from Cebu, was born on 1917.

She is a well-known storywriter, playwright and journalist; and though a Cebuana, she wrote almost exclusively in English. Unlike other writers of her time, she did not come from the intelligensia. She attended college, and studied medicine; however, when she was mistakenly diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to a sanitarium, she resigned from her pre-medical education, and left with an Associate of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines. In spite of having only an A.A. degree, she was eventually appointed as a professor of Creative Writing at the University of thePhilippines, Manila. She was a member of the U.P. Writers Club, she held the National Fellowship in Fiction post at the U.P. Creative Writing Center in 1979. She became a member of the U. P. Writers Club and was given the privileged post of National Fellowship in Fiction post at the U. P. Creative Writing Center. Her first story, Grey Confetti, was published in graphic in 1935. She was the only female member of the Veronicans, an avant garde group of writers in the 1930s led by Francisco Arcellana and H.R. Ocampo, she was also regarded as their muse. The Veronicans are recognized as the first group of Filipino writers to write almost exclusively in English and were formed prior to the World War II. She is also reportedly the most prolific Filipina writer prior to World War II. She was a regular contributor to Manila-based national magazines; she had several stories cited in Jose Garcia Villas annual honor rolls. She also served on the Philippine Board of Tourism in the 1970s. Some of her achievements are: 1940: A collection of her early short stories, Dear Esmeralda, won Honorable Mention in the Commonwealth Literary Award. 1961-1962: Four of her one-act plays won all the prizes in the Arena Theater Play Writing Contest: Losers Keepers (first prize), Strangers (second prize), Rice (third prize), and Beggar (fourth prize). 1961-1962: Won top prize in the Palanca Contest for With Patches of Many Hues. 1974: Second place Palanca Award for her short story, "The White Dress". 1979: National Fellowship in Fiction post at the U.P. Creative WritingCenter. Palanca Awards Forever Witches, One-act Play (Third place, 1960) With Patches of Many Hues, One-act Play (First place, 1962) Tubig, One-act Play (Second place, 1963) The Knitting Straw, One-act Play, (Third place, 1968) The White Dress, Short Story (Second place, 1974) Stories Magnificence and Other Stories (1960) Stories of Estrella Alfon (1994, published posthumously) Servant Girt (short story) English Alfon died on December, 28 1983, following a heart attack suffered on-stage during Awards night of the Manila Film Festival.

Francisco Arcellana, writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher, is one of the most important progenitors of the modern Filipino short story in English. He 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 has kept alive the experimental tradition in fiction, and has been most daring in exploring new literary forms to express the sensibility of the Filipino people. A brilliant craftsman, his works are now an indispensable part of a tertiary-level-syllabi all over the country. Arcellana's published books areSelected Stories (1962), Poetry and Politics: The State of Original Writing in English in the Philippines Today (1977), The Francisco Arcellana Sampler (1990). Francisco "Franz" Arcellana (September 6, 1916 August 1, 2002) was a Filipino writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher. He was born on September 16, 1916. Arcellana already had ambitions of becoming a writer during his years in the elementary. His actual writing, however, started when he became a member of The Torres Torch Organization during his high school years. Arcellana continued writing in various school papers at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He later on received a Rockfeller Grant and became a fellow in creative writing the University of Iowa and Breadloaf's writers conference from 1956- 1957. He is considered an important progenitor of the modern Filipino short story in English. Arcellana pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form within Filipino literature. His works are now often taught in tertiary-level-syllabi in the Philippines. Many of his works were translated into Tagalog, Malaysian, Russian, Italian, and German. Arcellana won 2nd place in 1951 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, with his short story, "The Flowers of May." 14 of his short stories were also included in Jose Garcia Villa's Honor Roll from 1928 to 1939. His major achievements included the first award in art criticism from the Art Association of the Philippines in 1954, the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan award from the city government of Manila in 1981, and the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas for English fiction from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipino (UMPIL) in 1988. Francisco Arcellana was proclaimed National Artist of the Philippines in Literature in 1990.
Arcellana is buried at theLibingan ng mga Bayani.
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Arcellana died in 2002. As a National Artist, he received a state funeral at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. His grandson Liam Hertzsprung performed a piano concert in 2006 dedicated to him. Arcellana's published books include: Selected Stories (1962) Poetry and Politics: The State of Original Writing in English in the Philippines Today (1977) The Francisco Arcellana Sampler (1990) Arcellana was a master of words, and a master of storytelling.
His stories had plots intricate with twists and turns, but it was the way he wrote the stories, the words he used and how he strung them together, that set them apart as masterpieces. And what masterpieces they were! The Flowers of May, which won the 1951 Palanca Literature Award,Trilogy of the Turtles, published in the UP Literary Apprentice which gained him entry into the prestigious UP Writers Club, The Mats, re-issued in 1995 as a children’s storybook, two versions of Wing of Madness, two versions as well of Divide by Two. His works defined what short story writing could and should be. While his short stories are his most famous and certainly among his best written works, Franz was also a journalist. He was writer, columnist and/or editor of several magazines and a news service during the late 1930s up to the 1950s. Of this body of works his columns Through a Glass, Darkly stand out as particularly fine examples of good writing.He embarked on an academic career by joining the University of the Philippines Department of English and Comparative Literature as an instructor in 1953, and retired 29 years later.