Edith Tiempo

Edith L. Tiempo (born April 22, 1919 in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya), poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic is one of the finest Filipino Writers in English whose works are characterized by a remarkable fusion of style and substance, of craftsmanship and insight. Her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of significant experiences as revealed, in two of her much anthologized pieces, "Lament for the Littlest Fellow" and "Bonsai." As fictionist, Tiempo is as morally profound. Her language has been marked as "descriptive but unburdened by scrupulous detailing." She is an influential tradition in Philippine literature in English. Together with her late husband, writer and critic Edilberto K. Tiempo, they founded (in 1962) and directed the Silliman National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete City, which has produced some of the Philippines' best writers.

She was conferred the National Artist Award for Literature in 1999.

Works

Novels

• A Blade of Fern (1978)
• His Native Coast (1979)
• One, Tilting Leaves
• The Alien Corn (1992)
• The Builder (2004)
• The Jumong (2006)

Short Stories

• Abide, Joshua, and Other Stories (1964)

Poetry

• The Tracks of Babylon and Other Poems (1966)
• The Charmer’s Box and Other Poet (1993)
• Beyond, Extensions
• Marginal Annotations and Other Poems

The Return

Honors and Awards

• National Artist Award for Literature (1999)
• Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature
• Cultural Center of the Philippines (1979, First Prize in Novel)
• Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas (1988)

References

• Philippine National Artists for Literature Retrieved August 28, 2005.