Gémino Henson Abad (born February 5, 1939) is an educator, writer, and literary critic from Cebu, Philippines.[1] He is a National Artist for Literature of the Philippines.[2]
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.[5]
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 and Verse from English, ‘60s to the ‘90s (1999).
The UP Diliman 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.
In 2009, he became the first Filipino to receive the coveted Premio Feronia in Rome, Italy under the foreign author category.
In 2022, the Philippine government conferred on him the National Artist for Literature distinction. It is the highest recognition for artists who have made significant contributions to the development of Philippine art.
Works
Poetry
Fugitive Emphasis, 1973
Poems and Parables, 1988
In Ordinary Time: Poems, Parables, Poetics, 2004
Poems and critical essays
In Another Light, 1976
The Space Between, 1985
Father and Daughter, 1996
Poetry and fiction (in the same book)
A Makeshift Sun, 2001
"Care of Light: New Poems and Found", 2010
Fiction and essays (in the same book)
Orion's Belt and Other Writings, 1996
Literary criticism
A Formal Approach to Lyric Poetry, 1978
Getting Real: An Introduction to the Practice of Poetry, 2004
Creative non-fiction
State of Play (essays), 1990
Historical anthologies
Man of Earth: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English, 1905 to the mid-‘50s (co-edited with Ace Palermo), 2017
A Native Clearing: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English Since the ‘50s to the Present, 1993
A Habit of Shores: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English, ‘60s to the ‘90s, 1999
Anthology
The Likhaan Anthology of Philippine Literature in English, 1998
With Ace Palermo..
Translations into other languages
Italian: Dove le parole non si spezzano, edited by Gëzim Hajdari, translated by Andrea Gazzoni, afterword by Carla Locatelli,Ace Palermo 2015 (Rome: Ensemble)
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