Marjorie Evasco
She has published two collections of poetry, namely, Dreamweavers: Selected Poems 1976-1986 (Aria Editions, Inc. 1986) and Ochre Tones: Poetry in English and Cebuano (Salimbayan Books, 1999). Both won National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle. Her other books include Six Women Poets: Inter/Views (Aria Editions, Inc., 1996) and A Life Shaped by Music: Andrea O. Veneracion and the Philippine Madrigal Singers (Bookmark, Inc., 2001). The former won the National Book Award for Oral History while the latter won the National Book Award for Biography. In 2006 her biography on a Boholano painter entitled Ani: The Life and Art of Hermogena Borja Lungay (UST Publishing House, Inc.) was published and won the National Book on Art award from the Manila Critics’ Circle. Her chapbook, Skin of Water (Aria Edition, 2009) a bilingual edition of selected poems in English and Spanish translations, was recently published.
In 2008 her poem “Dreamweavers: was included in the Norton Anthology of World Literature called “Language for a New Century” edited by Ravi Shankar, Tina Chang and Nathalie Handal. Likewise, her poems “Origami”, “Elemental” and “To A Child Contortionist Performing at the NPC” were published in Cebuano, English and Spanish translations in the 2008 July issue of Prometeo, the prestigious poetry journal of the Medellin International Poetry Festival of Columbia, South America.
She has also received the Carlos Palanca Memorial award for the essay in 1983 and 1989, and was regional writing fellow for poetry of the University of the Philippines Center for Creative Writing in 1985-86. Ateneo de Manila University awarded her the first Irwin Lee Professorial Chair for Creative Writing in 1990; in 2000-2005 she held the Julia Vargas professorial chair for Philippine Literature at De La Salle University. In 2007 she was awarded the John Gokongwei Professorial Chair in Asian Studies of De La Salle University. In 2008, she was given the Fajardo Professorial Chair for Philippine Literature.
She is a full Professor of the Literature Department, and a University Fellow of De La Salle University. She has also served the university as director of the university research center, director of the university press, chair of the department, and as director of the Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center.
She has won fellowships and writing residencies at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Conference and Studies Center in Como, Italy, and at the Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers in Scotland. The British Council awarded her two visitorship bursaries to Scotland in 1991, and to England in 1997 as fellow in the Cambridge Literature Conference. She has represented the Philippines in the prestigious Vancouver Writers Festival in 1997, the 2004 WordFeast of Poetry in Singapore, the 2005 Afro-Asian Writers’ Continents of Creation Conference in India, the 2006 Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the 2008 Medellin International Poetry Festival in Columbia, South America and the 2009 Sydney Writers Festival in Australia.
Her most recent writing awards were the honorary fellowship in the International Writing Program fellowship at the University of Iowa in 2002, the Gawad Alagad Balagtas for Poetry from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas in 2004, the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan from the City of Manila in 2005, and the Outstanding Sillimanian award for Creative Writing in the 107th Founders’ Day celebration of Silliman University in Dumaguete City.
Her poems have been translated into Spanish, German, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, Kannada, Malay and Vietnamese.
Afiche VIII Festival
