 |
 |
Francisco Arcellana
Francisco Arcellana, writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher, was born on September 6, 1916. He is considered to be one of the roots of the modern Filipino short story writers who write in English. For him, a good fiction should be very close to reality. He kept the experimental tradition in fiction alive and dared to explore new literary forms to express the sensibility.
He studied elementary and high school in Tondo, Manila, and completed a PhB. degree at the University of the Philippines in 1939. He was a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in Creative Writing from 1956-1957 at the University of Iowa. The university offers one of the best creative writing programs in the United States.
He was one of the pioneers of the influential writers’ group “The Veronicans,” a group 13 pre-war writers whose aim was, to make their writing bear the imprint on the Face of the Philippines.
One of his most distinguished achievements was his appointment as the first and founding director of the UP Creative Writing Center in June 1979. He held the directorial position for three and a half years.
Fellows at the UP’s annual writing workshops remember him as a stringent critic with a sharp eye for craftsmanship and a steady supply of witty gibes.
Some of his short stories are “The Man Who Would Be Poe,” “Frankie,” “Lina,” “Death in a Factory,” “Divided by Two” and “A Clown Remembers” Some of his poems include “This Being the Third Poem,” “The Other Woman,” “To Touch You and I Touched Her,” and “This Poem is for Mathilda.”
His short stories were adapted to screenplay too. These are “Flowers of May” and “The Mats.” Recently, his “Christmas Gift” short story was adapted to screenplay by director Alberto S. Florentino.
He became a National Artist for Literature in 1990. Twelve years after, he passed away at the age of 85.
|
|
|
|
