Bienvenido Lumbera

Bienvenido Lumbera is a Filipino poet,

critic and dramatist. He is a National Artist
of the Philippines and a recipient of the
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism,
Literature and Creative Communications.
He won numerous literary awards,
including the National Book Awards from
the National Book Foundation, and the
Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards.
Personal life
Lumbera was born in Lipa on April 11,
1932.[1] He was barely a year old when his
father, Christian Lumbera (a Shooting
Guard with a local basketball team), fell
from a fruit tree, broke his back, and died.
Carmen Lumbera, his mother, suffered
from cancer and died a few years later. By
the age of five he was an orphan. He and
his older sister were cared for by their
paternal grandmother, Eusebia Teru.

When the war ended, Lumbera and his

grandmother returned to their home in
Lipa. Eusebia, however, soon succumbed
to old age and he was once again
orphaned. For his new guardians, he was
asked to choose between his maiden
aunts with whom his sister had stayed or
Enrique and Amanda Lumbera, his
godparents. The latter had no children of
their own and Bienvenido, who was barely
fourteen at the time, says he chose them
mainly because "they could send me to
school."

Education
Lumbera received his Litt.B. and M.A.
degrees from the University of Santo
Tomas in 1950, and then his Ph.D. in
Comparative Literature from Indiana
University in 1968.

Academic
Lumbera taught Literature, Philippine
Studies and Creative Writing at the Ateneo
de Manila University, De La Salle
University, the University of the Philippines
Diliman, and the University of Santo
Tomas. He was also appointed visiting
professor of Philippine Studies at Osaka
University of Foreign Studies in Japan
from 1985 to 1988 and the very first Asian
scholar-in-residence at the University of
Hawaii at Manoa.
Martial law
After Philippine President Ferdinand
Marcos declared Martial Law, Lumbera
was arrested by the Philippine military in
January 1974. He was released in
December of the same year. Cynthia
Nograles, his former student at the Ateneo
de Manila University, wrote to Gen. Fidel
Ramos for his release. Lumbera married
Cynthia a few months later. In 1976,
Lumbera began teaching at the
Department of Filipino and Philippine
Literatures, U.P. College of Arts and
Letters . In 1977, he served as editor of
Diliman Review upon the request of then
College of Arts and Sciences Dean
Francisco Nemenzo. The publication was
openly against the dictatorship but was
left alone by Marcos’ authorities.

Creative works
At the height of Martial Law, Lumbera had
taken on other creative projects. He began
writing librettos for musical theater.
Initially, the Philippine Educational Theater
Association (PETA) requested him to
create a musical based on Carlos
Bulosan’s America Is in the Heart.
Eventually, Lumbera created several highly
acclaimed musical dramas such as Tales
of the Manuvu; Rama, Hari; Nasa Puso ang
Amerika; Bayani; Noli me Tangere: The
Musical; and Hibik at Himagsik Nina
Victoria Laktaw. Sa Sariling Bayan: Apat na
Dulang May Musika, an anthology of
Lumbera's musical dramas, was published
by De La Salle University-Manila Press in
2004. Lumbera authored numerous books,
anthologies and textbooks such as:
Revaluation; Pedagogy; Philippine
Literature: A History and Anthology;
Rediscovery: Essays in Philippine Life and
Culture; Filipinos Writing: Philippine
Literature from the Regions; and Paano
Magbasa ng Panitikang Filipino: Mga
Babasahing Pangkolehiyo.
Organizational affiliations
Lumbera also established his leadership
among Filipino writers, artists and critics
by co-founding cultural organizations such
as the Philippine Comparative Literature
Association (1969); Pamana ng Panitikan
ng Pilipinas (1970); Kalipunan para sa mga
Literatura ng Pilipinas (1975); Philippine
Studies Association of the Philippines
(1984) and Manunuri ng Pelikulang
Pilipino (1976). In such ways, Lumbera
contributed to the downfall of Marcos
although he was in Japan during the 1986
Edsa uprising, teaching at the Osaka
University of Foreign Studies.
Lumbera is also the founding and current
chairperson of the Board of Trustees of
the multi-awarded media group Kodao
Productions and a member of the
Concerned Artists of the Philippines and
the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.

Literary reputation
Lumbera is now widely acknowledged as
one of the pillars of contemporary
Philippine literature, cultural studies and
film, having written and edited numerous
books on literary history, literary criticism,
and film. He also received several awards
citing his contribution to Philippine letters,
most notably the 1975 Palanca Award for
Literature; the 1993 Magsaysay Award for
Journalism, Literature, and Creative
Communication Arts; several National
Book Awards from the Manila Critics
Circle; the 1998 Philippine Centennial
Literary Prize for Drama; and the 1999
Cultural Center of the Philippines
Centennial Honors for the Arts. He is
currently the editor of Sanghaya (National
Commission on Culture and the Arts),
Professor at the Department of English in
the School of Humanities of the Ateneo de
Manila University, Emeritus Professor at
the Department of Filipino and Philippine
Literature, College of Arts and Letters ,
U.P. Diliman, and Professor of Literature at
De La Salle University. For a time, he also
served as president of the Alliance of
Concerned Teachers (ACT), a national
organization of more than 40,000 teachers
and employees in the education sector.

The launching of Bayan at Lipunan: Ang

Kritisismo ni Bienvenido Lumbera, edited
by Rosario Torres-Yu and published by the
University of Santo Tomas Publishing
House, was celebrated by the University of
the Philippines in January 2006.

Bienvenido Lumbera was proclaimed

National Artist in April 2006.
Works
Poetry

Ka Bel
The Yaya’s Lullaby
Servant
Sadness
Eulogy of Roaches
'Jamborzkie Light

Literary criticism

Revaluation: Essays on Literature,

Cinema, and Popular Culture, 1984
Tagalog Poetry, 1570-1898: Tradition
and Influences on Its Development,
 1986
Abot-Tanaw: Sulyap at Suri sa
Nagbabagong Kultura at Lipunan, 1987

Textbooks

Pedagogy
Philippine Literature: A History and
Anthology

Awards
1st Asian Gay awardees
National Artist, April, 2006
Ramon Magsaysay Award for
Journalism, Literature, and Creative
Communication Arts, 1993
Pambansang Gawad Pambansang
Alagad ni Balagtas, Unyon ng mga
Manunulat ng Pilipinas (UMPIL)
National Book Awards from the Manila
Critics' Circle
Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for
Literature
Visiting Professorship, Osaka University
of Foreign Studies
Professor Emeritus, University of the
Philippines
Philippine Centennial Literary Prize for
Drama
Cultural Center of the Philippines
Centennial Honors for the Arts
 1st Asian scholar-in-residence at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa

References
1. "Archived copy" . Archived from the
original on 2010-12-13. Retrieved
2010-12-14.

External links
"Bienvenido Lumbera, book lover" by
Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz, Philippine Daily
Inquirer, Oct. 11, 2003
bulatlat.com
The 1993 Ramon Magsaysay Award for
Journalism, Literature and Creative
 Communication Arts Citation for
Bienvenido Lumbera
U.P. Institute of Creative Writing
Hearing the Music of Filipino Culture
Poe Named National Artist
National Artists in Waiting: Six in a Fix
An Online Resource Center for Filipino
Writers and Readers
6 conferred National Artists; Poe family
stays away

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