The award-winning fictionist, playwright and poet Leoncio P.
Deriada received his Ph.D. in English from Silliman University in Dumaguete
City in 1981. He is also known for his work in reviving writing in Kinaray-a
and for his papers on the Visayan languages and other regional literature. His
published works include, for fiction, The Road to
Mawab (1984), Night Mares (1988), The Week of the Whales (1994), a drama entitled The Dog-Eaters (1986), and a number of important
anthologies such as Ani, West Visayas
(1989), Patubas (1995) and Baul (1999) which he co-authored with Isidoro M. Cruz.
A Palanca Hall of Famer, he has garnered other prestigious awards such as the
Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, Asiaweek, Gawad CCP, Graphic, Focus, Yuhum
(Iloilo), and Blue Knight Award from Ateneo de Davao for Outstanding
Achievement in Literature. A recipient of the Metrobank Foundation’s Search for
Outstanding Teachers in 2002, Dr. Deriada heads the Sentro ng Wikang Filipino
at the U.P. Visayas. He is also an associate of the U.P. Institute of Creative
Writing.
Leoncio P. Deriada is generally
recognized as the "Father of Contemporary Literature in Western
Visayas." This paper is about his life as a writer and teacher, and his
contribution in promoting and developing literature in Region 6 of the
Philippine archipelago from the mid-90s to the present by giving workshops and
by editing anthologies, especially writing in Kinaray-a and Aklanon. The forces
that created Deriada as a "literary engineer" are also explained.
Although the main locus of Deriada's efforts is the Western Visayas region of
the Philippines, his sensibilities as a writer and cultural worker is truly
national.
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