Biography

Nicomedes “Nick” Joaquin y Marquez Tolentino Mercado

Joaquin was a famous Filipino writer, historian and journalist born in Paco, Manila in 1917. He was the
fifth child of Don Leocadio Joaquin, a lawyer at the Court of First Instance in Laguna. He used Quijano de
Manila ("Manila Old-Timer") as his pen name in some of his works and was interested in music and arts
due to his mother. He died at the age of 86.
Joaquin moved to Mapa High School and started a new life, believing that there was more to learn than
what he could learn in a four-cornered classroom. He eventually established his own publishing
company after working in a bakery.
Joaquin was a Filipino writer who wrote his first English poem about Don Quixote at the age of 17. He
later wrote La Naval de Manila (1943) and received an award for his essay about the resistance of
Manila to Dutch invaders during the 17th century.
Nick Joaquin was a renowned Filipino writer who used his love for writing to give a voice to the Filipino
people. He is considered the most important writer in Philippine literature and was given the rank and
title of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature. His works span over 70 years and are written in
English and Spanish.

Some of his famous works include:

·         May Day Eve (1947)
·         Prose and Poems (1952)
·         The Woman Who Had Two Navels (1961)
·         Reportage on Crime: Thirteen Horror Happenings that Hit the Headlines (1977)
·         Cave and Shadows (1983)
·         Manila, My Manila (1990)
·         Gotita de Dragon and Other Stories (2014)

Manila, My Manila’s Historical Background

Mayor Mel Lopez invited Nick Joaquin to write a history of Manila in 1988, which he wanted to preserve
the stories and events that happened during those times. The book is published as if it was a novel, so
that young people could learn from it and appreciate it. It contains what our society looked like before
and how the first Filipinos lived their lives.
Joaquin's story is about the life of President Corazon Aquino after the time of Martial Law, using
Sucesos' notes and other sources of Spanish Manila to create a retelling of the story. The book was
published in English and was published by Bookmark in 1999.