The poet and literary critic Gémino H. Abad obtained his B.A. in English from the University of the Philippines in 1964 and his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Chicago in 1970. Since then he has fulfilled a number of functions at U.P., particularly as Secretary of the University, Secretary of the Board of Regents, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Director of the U.P. Creative Writing Center, now an institute. He continues to contribute to the growth of the Institute of Creative Writing as an active member of its Board of Advisers.
Jimmy Abad was born in Cebu to the acclaimed Cebuano poet and professor Antonio Abad. Meeting the challenge of his father's legacy, Abad has garnered numerous prestigious academic and literary awards to his own name, including the UP Outstanding Faculty Award, Palanca, Free Press, and the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas. He has also received several grants and professorships here and abroad, among them the British Council (Cambridge and Oxford) and Rockefeller (University of Chicago) fellowships, as well as the Carlos P. Romulo (U.P.) and Irwin (Ateneo) chairs. At present, he is Emeritus University Professor at the College of Arts and Letters in U.P. Diliman.
Abad co -founded the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC). He has authored over ten books of poetry, fiction and criticism. Titles include Fugitive Emphasis (1973), The Space Between (1985), Orion's Belt and Other Writings (1996), and Getting Real: An Introduction to the Practice of Poetry (2004). A tireless worker, Dr. Abad edited the landmark historical anthologies Man of Earth (with Edna Z. Manlapaz,1989), A Native Clearing (1993) and A Habit of Shores: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English, '60s to the '90s (1999).
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