“I am a poet in a small country called the Philippines.”
— Cirilo F. Bautista, Gawad Dangal ng Lahi speech at the 2013 Don Carlos Palanca Literary Awards
Cirilo F. Bautista (July 9, 1941-May 6, 2018), Philippine National Artist for Literature. A Renaissance man, he was a poet, fiction writer, painter, literary critic, and educator. He was Professor Emeritus and University Fellow at the De La Salle University, Manila. His intellect and spirit were cultivated in various halls of erudition: Legarda Elementary School (1954), Mapa High School (valedictorian, 1958), University of Santo Tomas (magna cum laude, A.B. Literature, 1963), Saint Louis University, Baguio (magna cum laude, Master of Arts in Literature, 1968), and De La Salle University, Manila (Doctor of Arts in Language and Literature, 1991). His awards and honors included: Philippine Centennial Prize for Epic Poetry, Manila Critics Circle’s National Book Awards, Don Carlos Palanca Hall of Fame Award and Gawad Dangal ng Lahi, Gawad Jose Corazon de Jesus, Diwa ng Lahi-Gawad Antonio Villegas at Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan, Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas by the Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas (UMPIL), Taboan Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Gawad CCP Para sa Sining by the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and Komisyon ng Wikang Pilipino’s Makatang Taon, among others. His fellowships included those at the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa (1968-1969) and the Cambridge Seminar on Contemporary Literature in Trinity College, Cambridge University, England (1987), among others. He was a member of the Manila Critics Circle and the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC).
Works
In Many Ways, Poems, 2018
Things Happen, Poems 2012, 2014
100 Poems (Ed. Santiago Villafania), 2011
Believe and Betray. New and Collected Poems, 2006
Tinik sa Dila: Isang Katipunan ng mga Tula, 2003
The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus, 2001
Sunlight on Broken Stones (3rd volume, The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus), 1999
Sugat ng Salita, 1985
Telex Moon (2nd volume, The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus), 1975
Kirot ng Kataga, 1995
Boneyard Breaking: New Collected Poems, 1992
Charts: New Poems, 1973
The Archipelago (1st volume, The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus),1970
The Cave and Other Poems, 1968
Summer Suns (with Albert Casuga), 1963
Bautista’s other books include: The House of True Desire: Essays about Life and Literature (2011), The De La Salle University Story. Volume 2: The Early Years (2011), Galaw ng Asoge (novel, 2004), Bullets and Roses: The Poetry of Amado V. Hernandez, a Bilingual Edition (translation, 2003), Words and Battlefields: A Theoria on the Poem (1998), Stories (short fiction,1990), and Breaking Signs: Lectures on Literature and Semiotics (1990). His weekly column, “Breaking Signs,” for the Philippine Panorama of Manila Bulletin lasted for 12 years.
Bautista’s Works Available Online
“In Praise of Sardines,” “Henry Miller in Paris,” “Five Poems from ‘Salt Crown,’ a 15-Sonnet Cycle”
About Bautista
Baytan, Ronald. “Intensities of Signs: An Interview with the Visionary Cirilo F. Bautista.” Likhaan 6. The Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature. (2012): 207-236.
Chua, Johannes L. “Cirilo F. Bautista: A Writer’s Writer.” Manila Bulletin. 11 Dec 2004.
NCCA Order of the National Artist for Literature
Ranario, Radney. “Homage to a National Artist for Literature.” Philippines Graphic, 2014.
Untivero, Dorynna. “What the Sea Cannot Touch: Remembering Cirilo F. Bautista.” Tatler Philippines, 2018.
Modules on Bautista’s Works
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AB LITERATURE, PHILIPPINES 