9 - Jose Dalisay Jr.

Having a set of literary works written by Filipino authors and another set of literary works written by foreign authors, what would you choose?

Reality is, we prefer reading works not from our countrymen. Stereotyping, we can say that poems, novels, books, as long it's written by a Filipino is not satisfying enough to read. Comparing an American film to a Philippine film is just the same.

However, as I was assigned to post a blog about a Filipino author named Jose Dalisay Jr., I was forced to read some of his works and biography and I could say literary works by some of Filipino authors are not as bad as they were stereotyped.

Starting about the author's biography, I was overwhelmed about the number of awards he received. He even entered the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2000 for he has won 16 Palanca Awards in five genres. He also won five Cultural Center of the Philippines awards for playwriting, and Famas, Urian, Star and Catholic Film awards and citations for his screenplays. It was back 1993 when he was named one of The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) for his creative writing.

He graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1984 (AB English, cum laude ), the University of Michigan (MFA, 1988) and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (PhD English, 1991). In 1998, he was named to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Centennial Honors List for his work as a playwright and fictionist.

He was a full professor at the University of the Philippines where he teaches English and Creative Writing and also serves as coordinator of the creative writing program and as an Associate of the UP Institute of Creative Writing. After serving as chairman of the English Department, he became Vice President for Public Affairs of the UP System from May 2003 to February 2005.

Two of his great works that I was able to access online are Cameo and Amnesty. After reading his works, I noticed his writing style. He is into descriptive sentences that'll make the reader visualize exactly what he is trying to describe. Also, I love the setting of his stories for it was all set in the Philippines. Moreover, some of his works featured the cultures and traditions of Filipinos including but not limited to fiestas and Santacruzan.

In conclusion, 'Never judge a book by its cover' may be an old-saying but a never-dying quotation for people always fall into the trap of judging a thing by its surface. And for literary works, literally, it is still being judged by its cover - which it shouldn't.