Gemino Abad

Gemino Abad
February 5, 1939
National Artist for Literature (2022) (Not a Posthumous)
Gémino Henson Abad is a Cebu-based literary critic. He is a

Philippine National Artist for Literature. When his father, Antonio Abad,
was given professorships at Far Eastern University and the University
of the Philippines, his family moved to Manila. He received his A.B.
"magna cum laude" from the University of the Philippines Diliman in
1964. In 1966 and 1970, he received his M.A. with honors and Ph.D.
in English literature from the University of Chicago, respectively. He
held many positions at the University of the Philippines, including
Secretary of the University, Secretary of the Board of Regents, Vice
President for Academic Affairs, and Director of the U.P. Creative
Writing Institute. Abad is the second Cebuano to be named a National
Artist for literature.
His (Top 3) Famous Works:

 Toys (2003)
 In Another Light (poems and critical essays, 1976)
 The Space Between (poems and critical essays, 1985)
 Toys ( 2003)
This poem is about his boys who were gifted with toys and were able
to play with them in ways that his younger self and brother could not.
 In Another Light (poems and critical essays, 1976)
The care for words is a care of the light. The poet attempts to highlight
the living experience itself, whether as lived, imagined, recalled, or just
imagined as lived. Writing, then, is getting genuine, breathing life into
language. Finally, the poem is not its language; it is the living word.
The poet employed personification to give life to those items, making
them real, alive, as if one and in tune with the presence of one
woman, as if bit by little these objects are telling something about her.
Each thing has its own memory that might be linked to the lady
mentioned by the poet.
 The Space Between (poems and critical essays, 1985)
Fugitive Emphasis is about Philippine Studies: Historical and

Ethnographic Viewpoints. It is an internationally reviewed
publication that publishes scholarly papers and other resources on
the history of the Philippines and its people, both in the Philippines
and beyond. It thinks that historians and researchers from different
disciplines enlighten the past, yet, it prefers ethnographic
approaches to the history of the present. It accepts theoretically
educated but jargon-free works. It encourages a comparative and
global mindset and attempts to involve researchers who are not
necessarily experts in the Philippines.
Gemino Abad is distinctive from other artists in that his concept of

"writing from English" is arguably his most significant (and
contentious) contribution to Philippine literary discourse. According to
Abad, imaginative writing, particularly poetry, is an act of "forging"; a
foreign language is altered by the writer's sensibility so that literature
produced in English is genuinely written in English and is, therefore,
Filipino.
Awards Received:
 National Artist for Literature 2022

 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". Archived from the original on
August 31, 2004. Retrieved March 25, 2006. 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
ANALYSIS
TOYS
Gemino Abad
I was impressed by Gemino's poetry for the toys. My mother said, "you are
lucky enough to live your life today compared to our life when I was still the
same age as yours." After reading the poem, I realized that my mother was
correct. Not every youngster has the opportunity to participate in activities.
In the poem, Gemino and his brother's boys were playing with toys that he
and his brother had never dreamed of having when they were the same
age as their sons. In today's reality, this poem is very eye-opening. Some
kids are satisfied with what they have and find ways to enjoy their
childhood. The poetry demonstrated what Gemino and his brother did not
experience as children, so they passed it on to their sons. This poem is a
work of art.

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Gemino Abad

Gémino Henson Abad is a Cebu-based literary critic. He is a

His (Top 3) Famous Works:

 In Another Light (poems and critical essays, 1976)

 The Space Between (poems and critical essays, 1985)

Fugitive Emphasis is about Philippine Studies: Historical and

Gemino Abad is distinctive from other artists in that his concept of

 National Artist for Literature 2022

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