Jose Dalisay, Jr.

Jose Dalisay, Jr.
Born January 15, 1954
Romblon, Philippines
Pen name Butch Dalisay
Occupation Writer
Nationality Filipino
Alma mater University of Michigan
Genre Fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction and screenplay
Website
www.penmanila.net

Jose Y. Dalisay Jr. (born January 15, 1954) is a Filipino writer. He has won numerous awards and prizes for fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction and screenplay, including 16 Palanca Awards.

Early life and education

Dalisay was born in Romblon in 1954. He completed his primary education at La Salle Green Hills, Philippines in 1966 and his secondary education at the Philippine Science High School in 1970. He dropped out of college to go underground after a period of imprisonment when Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972. After his release as a political detainee, he also wrote scripts mostly for Lino Brocka, the National Artist of the Philippines for Theater and Film. Dalisay returned to school and earned his B.A. English degree, cum laude from the University of the Philippines in 1984. He later received an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan in 1988 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1991 as a Fulbright scholar.

Literary career

Dalisay has authored more than 20 books since 1984. Six of those books have garnered National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle. In 1998, Dalisay made it to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Centennial Honors List as one of the 100 most accomplished Filipino artists of the past century. Among his numerous books are Oldtimer and Other Stories (Asphodel, 1984; U.P. Press, 2003); Sarcophagus and Other Stories (U.P. Press, 1992); Killing Time in a Warm Place (Anvil, 1992); Madilim ang Gabi sa Laot at Iba Pang mga Dula ng Ligaw na Pag-Ibig (U.P. Press, 1993); Penmanship and Other Stories (Cacho, 1995); The Island (Ayala Foundation, 1996); Pagsabog ng Liwanag/Aninag, Anino (U.P. Press, 1996); Mac Malicsi, TNT/Ang Butihing Babae ng Timog (U.P. Press, 1997); The Lavas: A Filipino Family (Anvil, 1999); The Best of Barfly (Anvil, 1997); The Filipino Flag (Inquirer Publications, 2004); Man Overboard (Milflores, 2005); Journeys with Light: The Vision of Jaime Zobel (Ayala Foundation, 2005); Selected Stories (U.P. Press, 2005); and "The Knowing Is in the Writing: Notes on the Practice of Fiction" (U.P. Press, 2006).

Editor

Dalisay has also worked extensively as a professional editor. He served as Executive Editor of the ten-volume Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People (Manila: Asia Publishing/Reader's Digest Asia, 1998). His clients have included the Asian Development Bank, the Ayala Foundation, SGV & Co., the National Economic and Development Authority, the Office of the (Philippine) President, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation, among others.

Achievements

The writer at the Vatican.

Dalisay has won 16 Palanca Awards in five genres. For winning at least five First Prize awards, he was elevated to the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2000. He has also garnered five Cultural Center of the Philippines awards for playwriting; and FAMAS, URIAN, Star and Catholic Mass Media awards and citations for his screenplays. He also chaired the 1992 ASEAN Writers Conference/Workshop, in Penang, Malaysia. He was named one of The Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of 1993 for his creative writing. In 2005, he received the Premio Cervara di Roma in Italy for extensively promoting Philippine literature overseas. In 2007, his second novel, Soledad's Sister, was shortlisted for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize in Hong Kong.

He has received Hawthornden Castle, British Council, David T.K. Wong, Rockefeller (Bellagio), and Civitella Ranieri fellowships, and has held the Henry Lee Irwin Professorial Chair at the Ateneo de Manila University; and the Jose Joya, Jorge Bocobo, and Elpidio Quirino professorial chairs at U.P. Diliman. He has lectured on Philippine culture and politics at the University of Michigan, University of Auckland, Australian National University, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, St. Norbert College (Wisconsin, U.S.A.), University of East Anglia, University of Rome, London School of Economics, and the University of California, San Diego.

After serving for three years as English and Comparative Literature Department Chair, Dalisay assumed the post of Vice President for Public Affairs of the U.P. System from May 2003 to February 2005. He is currently a Professor of English and creative writing at the College of Arts and Letters, U.P. Diliman, where he also coordinated the creative writing program. He is also Director of the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing. Aside from his column for the Philippine Star, he also writes political and social commentary for the newsmagazine Newsbreak and the San Francisco-based Filipinas magazine.

Notable works

Novel

Plays

Screenplays

More than twenty produced screenplays, including

Nonfiction

Other books

Honors and awards

See also

References and external links