J. Neil Garcia

Education

Garcia earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Santo Tomas in 1990, graduating magna cum laude. He then earned a Master of Arts in Comparative literature in 1995 and a Doctor of Philosophy in English Studies: Creative Writing in 2003 from the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Writing career

Garcia has authored several poetry collections and works in literary and cultural criticism.

In 1996, Garcia was the recipient of a Philippine National Book Award, winning Best in Literary Criticism for his work on Philippine Gay Culture: The Last Thirty Years (1996).

He is currently a professor of English, Creative Writing and Comparative Literature at the College of Arts and Letters at the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he also serves as a fellow for poetry of Likhaan, also known as the UP Institute of Creative Writing. He has also previously served as the director of the University of the Philippines Press.

Garcia's latest critical work, Postcolonialism and Filipino Poetics: Essays and Critiques, is a revised version of his very provocative PhD dissertation. The book examined Filipino poetics from the perspective of post-colonialism consisting of the author's own critical and personal reflections on poetry-both as he "reads" and "writes" it. Garcia sought to answer a specific and difficult question: just how do the dominant poetic theories in the Philippines address the problems and debates of postcolonialism? This inquiry led Garcia to confront the issue of Filipino nationalism. Garcia addressed the assumptions and consequences of Filipino nationalism then engaged with the poetics of National Artist Virgilio Almario and eminent poet-critic Gemino Abad, whom Garcia referred to as "the foremost commentators on Filipino poetics."

Garcia is currently working on a full-length book, a post-colonial survey and analysis of Philippine poetry in English. Professor Garcia has won several literary awards including the Palanca and the National Book Award from the Manila Critics Circle. He has also received grants and fellowships to deliver lectures in Taipei, Hawaii, Berkeley, Manchester, Cambridge, Leiden and Bangkok.--

Personal life

Garcia is gay.

Works

Poetry

• Closet Quivers, 1992
• Our Lady of the Carnival, 1996
• Sorrows of Water, 2000;
• Kaluluwa: New and Selected Poems, 2001
• The Garden of Wordlessness, 2005
• Misterios and Other Poems, 2005

Cultural Criticism

• Philippine Gay Culture: The Last Thirty Years, 1996
• Slip/pages: Essays in Philippine Gay Criticism, 1998
• Postcolonialism and Filipino Poetics: Essays and Critiques, 2004

Creative Non-Fiction

• Closet Queeries, 1997
• Myths and Metaphors, 2002
• Performing the Self: Occasional Prose, 2003

Anthologies (as editor)

• Ladlad, 1994;
• Ladlad 2, 1996;
• The Likhaan Book of Philippine Criticism, 1992–1997
• The Likhaan Book of Poetry and Fiction, 1998 & 2000
• Bongga Ka 'Day: Gay Quotes to Live by, 2002
• Ladlad 3, 2007

Honors and awards

• British Council Fellowship Grant to Cambridge
• British Academy Fellowship
• Taipei International Artist-in-Residence
• Visiting ICOPHIL Fellow at the International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden, the Netherlands
• Procyon Poetry Prize
• National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle
• Palanca Awards for Literature
• Philippines Free Press Literary Awards for Poetry
• U.P. Gawad Chancellor for Outstanding Literary Artist,
• U.P. Gawad Chancellor for Outstanding Literary Work,
• U.P. Gawad Chancellor for Outstanding Research
• U.P. Gawad Chancellor as Artist of the Year
• Outstanding Thomasian Writers Award
• 29th National Writers' Workshop, Dumaguete
• U.P. National Writers' Workshop

References

References

1. Baclig, Cristina Eloisa. (February 6, 2018). "J. Neil Garcia: Textualizing Realistic Portrayals". The Flame.
2. Alba, Reinerio. (2002). "The Manila Critics Circle and the National Book Awards".
3. "Creative Writing".
4. (July 16, 2021). "Likhaan: University of the Philippines Institute of Creative Writing".
5. (2004). "Postcolonialism and Filipino Poetics: Essays and Critiques". University of the Philippines Press.