Gémino Abad

Gémino Henson Abad is a literary critic from Cebu, Philippines. His family moved to Manila when his father, Antonio Abad, was offered professorships at Far Eastern University and the University of the Philippines. He earned his B.A. English from the University of the Philippines in 1964 and Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Chicago in 1970. He served the University of the Philippines in various capacities: as Secretary of the University, Secretary of the Board of Regents, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Director of the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing. For many years, he also taught English, comparative literature and creative writing at U.P. Diliman.

Abad co-founded the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC) which published Caracoa, a poetry journal in English. His other works include Fugitive Emphasis (poems, 1973); In Another Light (poems and critical essays, 1976); A Formal Approach to Lyric Poetry (critical theory, 1978); The Space Between (poems and critical essays, 1985); Poems and Parables (1988); Index to Filipino Poetry in English, 1905-1950 (with Edna Zapanta Manlapaz, 1988) and State of Play (letter-essays and parables, 1990). He edited landmark anthologies of Filipino poetry in English, among them Man of Earth (1989), A Native Clearing (1993) and A Habit of Shores: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English, ‘60s to the ‘90s (1999).

The University of the Philippines has elevated Abad to the rank of University Professor, the highest academic rank awarded by the university to an exemplary faculty member. He currently sits on the Board of Advisers of the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing and teaches creative writing as Emeritus University Professor at the College of Arts and Letters, U.P. Diliman.

In 2009, he became the first Filipino to receive the coveted Premio Feronia in Rome, Italy under the foreign author category.

Works

Poetry

• Fugitive Emphasis, 1973
• Poems and Parables, 1988
• In Ordinary Time: Poems, Parables, Poetics, 2004

Poems and Critical Essays

• In Another Light, 1976
• The Space Between, 1985
• Father and Daughter, 1996

Poetry and Fiction (in the same book)

• A Makeshift Sun, 2001
• "Care of Light: New Poems and Found", 2010

Fiction and Essays (in the same book)

• Orion’s Belt and Other Writings, 1996

Literary Criticism

• A Formal Approach to Lyric Poetry, 1978
• Getting Real: An Introduction to the Practice of Poetry, 2004

Creative Non-fiction

• State of Play (essays), 1990

Historical Anthologies

• Man of Earth: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English, 1905 to the mid-‘50s (co-edited with Edna Z. Manlapaz), 1989
• A Native Clearing: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English Since the ‘50s to the Present, 1993
• A Habit of Shores: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English, ‘60s to the ‘90s, 1999

Anthology

• The Likhaan Anthology of Philippine Literature in English, 1998

Awards, Prizes and Fellowships

• University Professorship, University of the Philippines
• Carlos P. Romulo Professorial Chair, University of the Philippines
• Henry Lee Irwin Professorial Chair in Creative Writing, Ateneo de Manila University
• Rockefeller Fellowship, University of Chicago
• Visiting Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa
• Visiting Professor, Saint Norbert College, Wisconsin
• Visiting Professor, Singapore Management University
• International Writing Program Fellowship, University of Iowa
• British Council Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford
• U.P. Outstanding Faculty Award
• U.P. Distinguished Alumnus in Literature
• Ellen F. Fajardo Foundation Grant for Excellence in Teaching
• U.P. Gawad Chancellor Best Literary Work
• Palanca Awards for Poetry
• Philippines Free Press Awards at the Wayback Machine (archived August 31, 2004) for Literature
• Cultural Center of the Philippines Award for Poetry
• National Book Awards from the Manila Critics' Circle
• Asian Catholic Publishers Inc. Catholic Authors Award
• Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas from Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas (UMPIL)
• Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan in Literature from the City of Manila
• Premio Feronia, Foreign Author, 2009

External links

• U.P. Institute of Creative Writing
• Critical Readings in Philippine Poetry and Verse at the Wayback Machine (archived May 17, 2006)
• Philippine Social Weather Station
• Overseas Writers Workshop, University of Iowa
• "Care of Light" by Gemino H. Abad
• Highchair.com
• Ti Similla, U.P. Baguio
• The Best Philippine Short Stories
• Manoa, University of Hawaii
• Doe Library, University of California, Berkeley