Magdalena Jalandoni

 Magdalena Gonzaga Jalandoni (May 27, 1891 in Jaro, Iloilo - September 14, 1978 in Jaro)
was a Filipino feminist writer. She is now remembered as one of the most prolific Filipino
writers in the Hiligaynon language. Hailing from Western Visayas, her works are said to have
left permanent and significant milestones in Philippine literature.
 Magdalena Jalandoni was born on May 27, 1891 to an affluent land-owning family of
Gregorio Jalandoni and Francisca Gonzaga in Calle Alvarez now renamed as Calle
Benedicto in the former city of Salog now Jaro, Iloilo City, a present-day district of Iloilo City.
She began writing at a young age wherein she already had her poems published at the age
of 12. She published her first novel Ang Mga Tunoc Sang Isa Ca Bulac (The Thorns of a
Flower), which was later followed by many novels, compilations of poems and short stories.
Jalandoni only wrote for publication purposes due to the male-dominated society at the time.
Back then, female voices in literature were not taken seriously by the general public.
Although her mother strictly forbade her to take literature seriously, she refused to do so and
devoted her life entirely to literature.
 In her childhood autobiography Ang Matam-is Kong Pagkabata (My Sweet Childhood), she
cites: "I will be forced to write when I feel that my nose is being assaulted by the scent of
flowers, when my sight is filled with the promises of the sun and when my soul is lifted by
winged dreams to the blue heavens."
 Her famous poem Ang Guitara (The Guitar) is read in classrooms all over the country today.
Literary critics and historians claim that she has mastered a special talent for poetry and
description as well as dramatic evocations of landscapes and events in her novels and short
stories. Her works span from the coming of Malay settlers in the Middle Ages up to the
Spanish and American colonial era as well as the Japanese occupation of World War II, all
portraying the history of Panay and the evolution of the Ilonggo culture. According to Riitta
Varitti of the Finnish-Philippine Society in Helsinki, "Jalandoni was the most productive
Philippine writer of all time."
 Other famous works include Anabella, Juanita Cruz, Sa Kapaang Sang Inaway (In the Heat
of War), Ang Dalaga sa Tindahan (The Young Woman in the Market) and Ang Kahapon ng
Panay (The Past of Panay). Throughout her turbulent and displaced life, she still managed to
publish 36 novels, 122 short stories, 7 novelettes, 7 long plays, 24 short plays
and dialogos in verse complied in two volumes, seven volumes of personally compiled
essays including some translations from Spanish and two autobiographies. She has been
displaced from her hometown twice and has survived the Philippine Revolution, the Filipino-
American War and the Japanese Occupation. In 1977, she received the prestigious Republic
Cultural Heritage Award for her literary achievements from the government, about one year
before her death. She died on September 14, 1978 at the age of 87 and is survived by a few
nieces as well as several other close relatives. Despite all this, she still remains relatively
unknown up to this day. Her family's ancestral house still stands as a historical landmark and
museum not far from the cathedral of Jaro.
 Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Born 1947

Cebu, Philippines

Occupation Filipino writer

Notable work When the Rainbow Goddess Wept

Website http://www.ceciliabrainard.com/

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is an author and editor of nineteen books. She co-founded PAWWA or
Philippine American Women Writers and Artists; she also founded Philippine American Literary
House. Brainard's works include the World War II novel, When the Rainbow Goddess
Wept, Magdalena, and Woman With Horns and Other Stories. She edited several anthologies
includingFiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and two
volumes of Growing Up Filipino I and II, books used by educators.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Biography[edit]
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard (born 1947) grew up Cebu City, Philippines, the youngest of four
children to Concepcion Cuenco Manguerra and Mariano F. Manguerra. The death of her father when
she was nine prompted her to start writing, first in journals, then essays and fiction. She attended St.
Theresa's College and Maryknoll College in the Philippines; and she did graduate work atUCLA.[2][7][8]
Brainard has worked with Asian American youths for which she received a Special Recognition
Award from the Los Angeles Board of Education. She has also received awards from the California
State Senate, 21st District, several USIS Grants, a California Arts Council Fellowship, an
Outstanding Individual Award from the City of Cebu, Philippines, Brody Arts Fund Award, a City of
Los Angeles Cultural grant, and many more. The books she has written and edited have also won
awards, the Gintong Aklat Award and the International Gourmand Award among them. Her work has
been translated into Finnish and Turkish.
Brainard's second novel, Magdalena inspired the playwright Jocelyn Deona de Leon to write a stage
play, Gabriela's Monologue, which was produced in 2011 by the Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco
as part of Stories XII! annual production showcasing original works for the stage by Pilipino/Filipino
American Artists.
Brainard's writings can be found in periodicals such as Town and Country, Zee Lifestyle
Magazine, Focus Philippines, Philippine Graphic, Amerasia Journal, Bamboo Ridgeamong others.
Her stories have been anthologized in books such as Making Waves (1989), Songs of
Ourselves (1994), On a Bed of Rice (1995), "Pinay: Autobiographical Narratives by Women Writers,
1926-1998" (Ateneo 2000), "Asian American Literature" (Glencoe McGraw-Hill
2001),Cherished (New World Library, 2011), and others.[1][2][9][

Estrella Alfon
Estrella D. Alfon (July 18, 1917 – December 28, 1983) was a well-known prolific Filipina author who
wrote in English. Because of continued poor health, she could manage only an A. A. degree from
the University of the Philippines. She then became a member of the U. P. writers club and earned
and was given the privileged post of National Fellowship in Fiction post at the U. P. Creative Writing
Center. She died in the year 1983 at the age of 66.

Personal[edit]
Estrella Alfon was born in Cebu City in 1917. Unlike other writers of her time, she did not come
from the intelligentsia. Her parents were shopkeepers in Cebu.[1] She attended college, and studied
medicine. When she was mistakenly diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to a sanitarium, she
resigned from her pre-medical education, and left with anAssociate of Arts degree.
Alfon has several children: Alan Rivera, Esmeralda "Mimi" Rivera, Brian Alfon, Estrella "Twinkie"
Alfon, and Rita "Daday" Alfon (deceased). She has 10 grandchildren.
Her youngest daughter, was a stewardess for Saudi Arabian Airlines, and was part of the Flight
163 crew on August 19, 1980, when an in-flight fire forced the aircraft to land in Riyadh. A delayed
evacuation resulted in the death of everyone aboard the flight.
Alfon died on December 28, 1983, following a heart attack suffered on-stage during Awards night of
the Manila Film Festival.

Professional[edit]
She was a student in Cebu when she first published her short stories, in periodicals such as Graphic
Weekly Magazine, Philippine Magazine, and the Sunday Tribune.[2]
She was a storywriter, playwright, and journalist. In spite of being a proud Cebuana, she wrote
almost exclusively in English. She published her first story, “Grey Confetti”, in the Graphic in 1935.[3]
She was the only female member of the Veronicans, an avant garde group of writers in the 1930s
led by Francisco Arcellana and H.R. Ocampo, she was also regarded as their muse. The Veronicans
are recognized as the first group of Filipino writers to write almost exclusively in English and were
formed prior to the World War II. She is also reportedly the most prolific Filipina writer prior to World
War II. She was a regular contributor to Manila-based national magazines, she had several stories
cited in Jose Garcia Villa’s annual honor rolls.

Achievements[edit]
 1940: A collection of her early short stories, “Dear Esmeralda,” won Honorable Mention in the
Commonwealth Literary Award.
 1961-1962: Four of her one-act plays won all the prizes in the Arena Theater Play Writing
Contest: “Losers Keepers” (first prize), “Strangers” (second prize), “Rice” (third prize), and
“Beggar” (fourth prize).
 1961-1962: Won top prize in the Palanca Contest for “With Patches of Many Hues.”
 1974: Second place Palanca Award for her short story, "The White Dress".[6]
 1979: National Fellowship in Fiction post at the U.P. Creative Writing Center.

Palanca Awards[edit]
Estrella Alfon has won the Palanca Awards a number of times:[7]

 Forever Witches, One-act Play (Third place, 1960)