{{Short description|Filipino essayist, poet and playwright}} {{Infobox writer | name = Ricaredo Demetillo | image = | image_size = | image_upright = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|06|02}} | birth_place = Dumangas, Iloilo, Philippines | death_date = {{Death year and age|1998|1920}} | death_place = | occupation = Writer, poet | language = English | alma_mater = University of Iowa | genre = <!-- or: | genres = --> | subject = <!-- or: | subjects = --> | movement = | notable_works = ''Barter in Panay: An Epic'' | spouse = {{marriage|Angelita Delariarte|1944|1998}} | children = 3 | awards = *Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (multiple) | portaldisp = yes }}
'''Ricaredo Demetillo''' (June 10, 1920 – 1998) was a Filipino essayist, poet, and playwright. Demetillo was one of the most important and prolific literary figures in the Philippines during the Twentieth Century and has won numerous awards for his writing.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Macansantos |first1=Francis C. |last2=Macansantos |first2=Priscilla S. |title=Government of the Philippines |url=https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?igm=1&i=138 |website=National Commission for Culture and the Arts |access-date=12 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101051632/https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?igm=1&i=138 |archive-date=1 November 2012 |date=1 November 2012}}</ref>
==Biography==
Demetillo was born in Dumangas, Iloilo. He first realized that he had a talent for writing in 1939 while he was a seminarian at the Protestant Central Philippine College (now Central Philippine University). He was able to seriously pursue his talent at Indiana University as a Rockefeller scholar. In 1952 he completed his master's degree in fine arts in English and creative writing at the State University in Iowa. That same year, he returned to teach in his alma mater, Silliman University, where he also served as the adviser of ''Sands and Coral'', the literary journal of the university. Three years later, he left his post at Silliman University to teach literature and the humanities at the University of the Philippines.
He is the author of poetry collections, including ''No Certain Weather'' (1956),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demetillo |first1=Ricaredo |title=No Certain Weather: A Collection of Poetry |date=1956 |publisher=Guinhalinan Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xmlAAAAAIAAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> ''La Via: A Spiritual Journey'' (1958),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demetillo |first1=Ricaredo |title=La Via: A Spiritual Journey |date=1959 |publisher=University of the Philippines |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XMcBAAAAMAAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> ''Barter in Panay: An Epic'' and ''Daedalus and Other Poems'' (1961),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demetillo |first1=Ricaredo |title=Barter in Panay |date=1984 |publisher=New Day Publishers |location=Quezon City |isbn=978-971-10-0169-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5qOAAAACAAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> ''The Scarecrow Christ'' (1970),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bray |first1=Christopher |title=The Scarecrow Man |date=1969 |publisher=Heinemann |isbn=978-0-434-08580-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y10QAQAAIAAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> ''The City and the Thread of Light'' (1973),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demetillo |first1=Ricaredo |title=The City and the Thread of Light, and Other Poems |date=1973 |publisher=University of the Philippines |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DIIPAAAAMAAJ&q=The%20City%20and%20the%20Thread%20of%20Light:%20And%20Other%20Poems |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> ''Lazarus, Troubadour'' (1974),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demetillo |first1=Ricaredo |title=Lazarus, Troubadour |date=1974 |publisher=New Day Publishers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4IPAAAAMAAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> ''Masks and Signature'' (1984),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demetillo |first1=Ricaredo |title=Masks & Signature |date=1968 |publisher=University of the Philippines Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wNlAAQAAIAAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> and ''First and Last Fruits'' (1989).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demetillo |first1=Ricaredo |title=First and Last Fruits |date=1989 |publisher=New Day Publishers |isbn=978-971-10-0273-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R38dAAAAMAAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> He also published a play, ''The Heart of Emptiness Is Black,'' (1979);<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demetillo |first1=Ricaredo |title=The Heart of Emptiness is Black: A Tragedy in Verse |date=1975 |publisher=University of the Philippines Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYIPAAAAMAAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Marasigan |first1=Dennis N. |title=Ryan Cayabyab—'blessed with greatness of talent, yet his heart throbs with humility' |url=https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/315725/ryan-cayabyab-blessed-with-greatness-of-talent-yet-his-heart-throbs-with-humility/ |website=Lifestyle.INQ |access-date=12 November 2023 |date=30 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cervantes |first1=Behn |title=How Menggie Cobarrubias found his calling |url=https://entertainment.inquirer.net/73121/how-menggie-cobarrubias-found-his-calling |website=INQUIRER.net |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en |date=21 December 2012}}</ref> a novel, ''The Genesis of a Troubled Vision'' (1976),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demetillo |first1=Ricaredo |title=The Genesis of a Troubled Vision |date=1976 |publisher=Demetillo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jUleAAAAIAAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref> and literary criticisms, ''The Authentic Voice of Poetry'' (1962) and ''Major and Minor Keys: Critical Essays on Philippine Fiction and Poetry'' (1987).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demetillo |first1=Ricaredo |title=The Genesis of a Troubled Vision |date=1976 |publisher=Demetillo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jUleAAAAIAAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
Demetillo's ''Barter in Panay,'' an English language epic based on the Ilonggo epic ''Maragtas,'' is claimed to be the first true literary epic in the Philippines.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Biclar |first1=Leo Andrew |title=The Socio-cultural and Political Undertones in Demetillo's Barter in Panay: An Epic |journal=JPAIR Multidisciplinary Research |date=15 March 2014 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=57–81 |doi=10.7719/jpair.v16i1.271 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287408846 |access-date=12 November 2023|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Awards==
His numerous awards include first prize for play in the 1973 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, third prize for poetry in the 1975 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, second prize for essay in the 1984 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, UP Golden Jubilee Award for Criticism (1958), Jose Rizal Centennial Award for essay (1961), Republic Cultural Heritage Award for Literature (1968), Southeast Asian Writers Awards (1985) and the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas (1992).<ref name=Guerrero>{{cite news |last1=Guerrero |first1=Amadís Ma |title=Ricaredo Demetillo: Poet of Panay epics |url=https://philippinesgraphic.com.ph/2022/07/14/ricaredo-demetillo-poet-of-panay-epics/ |access-date=12 November 2023 |work=Philippines Graphic |date=14 July 2022}}</ref>
==Personal life==
He married Angelita Delariarte and had four children: a daughter, Becky Demetillo‑Abraham, and three sons, Darnay, Lester, and Weston Demetillo.<ref name=Guerrero/> He died in 1998.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Greene |first1=Roland |last2=Cushman |first2=Stephen |title=The Princeton Handbook of World Poetries |date=22 November 2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-8063-8 |page=429 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dC7FCgAAQBAJ |access-date=12 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.seawrite.com/ S.E.A. Write Awards] * [http://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?igm=1&i=138/ NCCA Website] * [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11233802-major-and-minor-keys/ goodreads] * {{Google books |id=HX4qAAAAMAAJ |title=Daedalus and other Poems }} * [http://www.elib.gov.ph/results.php?f=author&q=Ricaredo%2C+Demetillo./ Philippine eLib] * {{Google books |id=mp5KAAAAMAAJ |title=Six Filipino poets: Amador T. Daguio, Oscar de Zuñiga, Edith L. Tiempo, Dominador I. Ilio, Carlos A. Angeles, Ricaredo Demetillo }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Demetillo, Ricaredo}} Category:20th-century Filipino poets Category:20th-century Filipino male writers Category:1920 births Category:1998 deaths Category:Filipino male poets Category:S.E.A. Write Award winners Category:Silliman University alumni Category:Academic staff of Silliman University Category:Writers from Iloilo