Authors in Philippine Literature

1. Francisco Benitez – was a pioneer in education and administration.

 He founded the college of education at the university of the Philippines, and he established the
Philippine Journal of Education.
 He is considered as one of the greatest educational figures in the Philippines.
 He is the author of “What is an Educated Filipino?”
 He was born in Pagsanjan, Laguna on June 4, 1887 to Higinio Benitez and Soledad Francia.
 He was married to Paz Marquez of Lucena, Tayabas (now Quezon Province), herself a distinguished writer.
2. Paz Marquez Benitez - was a Filipina short-story writer
 Marquez – Benítez authored the first Filipino modern English language short story,  Dead Stars,
published in the Philippine Herald in 1925.
 she founded "Woman's Home Journal," the first women's magazine in the country, The first feminine
literary magazine in English published in the Philippines.
3. Jose Garcia Villa - was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded
the National Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973
 He is known to have introduced the "reversed consonance rhyme scheme" in writing poetry, as well
as the extensive use of punctuation marks—especially commas, which made him known as
the Comma Poet.
 He used the penname Doveglion (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 Doveglion, Adventures in Value, a poem dedicated to Villa.
4. Francisco B. Icasaiano - known as “Mang Kiko,”
 He wrote short stories, poems, and essays in addition to his newspaper work.
 He mysteriously disappeared after being suspected of complicity with the Japanese during
World War II.
 His widow, Carolina C. Icasiano, recently reported that he wrote this touching essay after the
death of their first child, Sonia.
5. Manuel E. Arguilla – “Manuel Estabilla Arguilla” was an Ilokano writer in English, patriot, and martyr.
 He is known for his widely anthologized short story "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife,"
the main story in the collection How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife and Other Short Stories ,
which won first prize in the Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940.
 Most of Arguilla's stories depict scenes in Barrio Nagrebcan, Bauang, La Union, where he was born.
His bond with his birthplace, forged by his dealings with the peasant folk of Ilocos, remained strong
even after he moved to Manila, where he studied at the University of the Philippines, finished his BS
in Education in 1933, and became a member and later the president of the U.P. Writer's Club and
editor of the university's Literary Apprentice.
6. Nick Joaquin- Nicomedes Márquez Joaquín
 was a Filipino writer, historian and journalist, best known for his short stories and novels in
the English language
 He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Joaquín was conferred the rank and title
of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature.
7. Fernando Ma. Guerrero - Fernando María Guerrero
  was a Filipino politician, journalist, lawyer and polyglot who became a significant figure during
the Philippines' golden period of Spanish literature, a period ranging from 1890 to the outbreak
of World War II in 1940.
 He wrote several poems in Where is my May? In his death, the Philippines lost a national poet and
distinguished writer and journalist.