EDITH TIEMPO

Edith Cutaran Lopez-Tiempo was a Filipino poet, fiction writer, teacher and literary critic in the English
language. She was conferred the National Artist Award for Literature in 1999. She is an influential
tradition in Philippine Literature in English.

Born: April 22, 1919, in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

Died: August 21, 2011 (aged 92) in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental
Cause of death was myocardial infarction.

 Her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of significant experiences as revealed, in two of
her much anthologized pieces, "Halaman" and "Bonsai."
 As fictionist, Tiempo is as morally profound. Her language has been marked as "descriptive but
unburdened by scrupulous detailing.
 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 studied and earned a degree from Silliman University. She took the course Bachelor of
Science in Education. She majored in English. She graduated magna cum laude in 1947.
 She is acknowledged by some as the Mother of Philippine Literature.

WORKS

Tiempo’s published works include the novel A Blade of Fern (1978), The Native Coast (1979), and
The Alien Corn (1992); the poetry collections, The Tracks of Babylon and Other Poems (1966), and
The Charmer’s Box and Other Poems(1993); and the short story collection Abide, Joshua, and Other
Stories (1964).

Poetry Collections:
1. The Tracks of Babylon and Other Poems (1966)
2. Beyond, Extensions (1993)
3. The Charmer's Box and Other Poems (1993)
4. Marginal Annotations and Other Poems (2010)
5. Commend Contend/Beyond Extensions (2010)

Writing Guides:
1. Six Uses of Fictional Symbols (2004)
2. Six Poetry Formats and the Transforming Image (2008)

Novels:
1. A Blade of Fern (1978)
2. His Native Coast (1979)
3. Alien Corn (1992)
4. One, Tilting Leaves (1995)
5. The Builder (2004)
6. The Jumong (2006)

Short Story Collections:

1. Abide, Joshua, and Other Stories (1964)

Poems:
1. Lament for the Littlest Fellow
2. Bonsai

Short Stories:
1. The Corral
2. The Black Monkey

HONORS AND AWARDS:

Notable awards: Order of National Artists of the Philippines

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