Gemino Henson Abad is a literary critic from Cebu, Philippines. His family moved to Manila when hi 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 an 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.
At present, he is a University Professor Emeritus at the University of the Philippines. His current writing and research include ''Upon Our Own Ground'', a two-volume historical anthology of short stories in English, 1952 - 1972, with critical introduction; ''Our Scene so Fair'', a book of critical essays on the poetry in English since 1905 to the mid - 50s, and; ''Where No Words Break'', a volume of his own poems.
His parents are the noted novelist, playwright and essayist in Sugbuanon and Spanish, Antonio M. Abad, who was at one time Chair of the Department of Spanish in U.P, and Jesusa H. Abad, professor of Spanish in U.P. He is married to Mercedes A. Rivera, with whom he has five children. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, magna cum laude, from UP on 1963, and has been teaching English literature and creative writing since then in UP Department of English and Comparative Literature, even after his retirement in 2004. He earned his Master's degree with honors, 1966, and Ph.D in English, at the University of Chicago under a Rockefeller Fellowship Grant.
He was a columnist in The MAnila Chronicle, a weekly column called ''Exchange", with NVM Gonzales, Sylvia Ventura and Luning Bonifacio Ira; The Evening Paper, a weekly column "coming through", with NVM Gonzales and Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo; Musa; The Philippine Literature Magazine, a monthly column "Poet's Clearing".
His awards include the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature; first prize for poetry in English, 1976 (The Space Between); second prize, 1980 (Counterclockwise); first prize, 1983 (The Outer clearing), The CCP Award for Poetry; second prize, 1973 (In another Light), Manila critics Circles National Book Award for Poetry, 1989 (Man On Earth), 1993 (A Native Clearing), 1999 (A Habit of Shores); for personal anthology, 2002 (A Makeshift Sun) and 2005 (In Ordinary Time), Asian Publishers Catholic Authors Award, 1990, Free press Literary Awards: third prize for the short story (Tarang), 1993; first prize for the short story (Introibo), 1997; first prize for the essay (A Day In One's Life), 1997; second prize for the poem (A Description), 2000, Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, 1996, for lifetime achievement in poetry and literary criticism, UP Alumni Association Professional Award in Literature, 1997, Ellen F. Fajardo Foundation grant for Excellence in teaching, 2000-2001, Chancellor's Award for Best Literary Work, 2002 (A Makeshift Sun), and Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan sa Larangan ng Panitikan, Lungsod ng Maynila, 2004.
This Year 2009, Gemino Abad won the Feronia Prize in Rome, Italy.
Source: http://www.panitikan.com.ph/content/g%C3%A9mino-h-abad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9mino_Abad
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ReplyDeleteThanks,
Ms Eliz