Joaquin, Nick (1917-2004), the foremost Filipino author to write in English, was honored as a “national artist” by the government of the Philippines in 1976. As a journalist, Joaquin wrote on crime, history, politics, popular culture, religion, show business, and many other subjects. Joaquin also wrote novels, plays, short stories, and verse. Much of his writing explores the heritage of the Filipino people in all its diversity. His novels include The Woman Who Had Two Navels (1961) and Cave and Shadows (1983). His short stories were collected in Tropical Gothic (1972) and Stories for Groovy Kids (1979). Among his collections of poetry are The Ballad of the Five Battles (1981) and Collected Verse (1987). He wrote such plays as A Portrait of the Artist as a Filipino (1966) and Tropical Baroque (1979). Joaquin was also a historian who wrote The Aquinos of Tarlac: An Essay on the History of Three Generations (1983).
Nicomedes Marquez Joaquin was born on May 4, 1917, in Manila. He was orphaned at the age of 13 and had to earn a living. He worked as a baker’s assistant, a printer’s assistant, a factory watchman, and a theater stagehand. Joaquin started writing at the age of 17 and became a proofreader at the Philippines Free Press, the leading weekly Filipino news magazine in English. He rose to contributing editor, writing under the pen name of “Manila Old-Timer.” Joaquin died on April 29, 2004.
