Biography
Gémino Henson Abad is a poet and critic from Cebu, Philippines.
His family moved to Manila when his father, Antonio Abad, was offered professorships at Far Eastern University and the University of the Philippines. He earned his B.A. English from the University of the Philippines in 1964 and Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Chicago in 1970. He served the University of the Philippines in various capacities: as Secretary of the University, Secretary of the Board of Regents, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Director of the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing. For many years, he also taught English, comparative literature and creative writing at U.P. Diliman.
Abad co-founded the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC) which published Caracoa, a poetry journal in English. His other works include Fugitive Emphasis (poems, 1973); In Another Light (poems and critical essays, 1976); A Formal Approach to Lyric Poetry (critical theory, 1978); The Space Between (poems and critical essays, 1985); Poems and Parables (1988); Index to Filipino Poetry in English, 1905-1950 (with Edna Zapanta Manlapaz, 1988) and State of Play (letter-essays and parables, 1990). He edited landmark anthologies of Filipino poetry in English, among them Man of Earth (1989), A Native Clearing (1993) and A Habit of Shores: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English, ?60s to the ?90s (1999).
The University of the Philippines has elevated Abad to the rank of University Professor, the highest academic rank awarded by the university to an exemplary faculty member. He currently sits on the Board of Advisers of the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing and teaches creative writing as Emeritus University Professor at the College of Arts and Letters, U.P. Diliman.
In 2009, he became the first Filipino to receive the coveted Premio Feronia in Rome, Italy under the foreign author category.
Awards, Prizes and Fellowships
University Professorship, University of the Philippines
Carlos P. Romulo Professorial Chair, University of the Philippines
Henry Lee Irwin Professorial Chair in Creative Writing, Ateneo de Manila University
Rockefeller Fellowship, University of Chicago
Visiting Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Visiting Professor, Saint Norbert College, Wisconsin
Visiting Professor, Singapore Management University
International Writing Program Fellowship, University of Iowa
British Council Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford
U.P. Outstanding Faculty Award
U.P. Distinguished Alumnus in Literature
Ellen F. Fajardo Foundation Grant for Excellence in Teaching
U.P. Gawad Chancellor Best Literary Work
Palanca Awards for Poetry
Philippines Free Press Awards for Literature
Cultural Center of the Philippines Award for Poetry
National Book Awards from the Manila Critics' Circle
Asian Catholic Publishers Inc. Catholic Authors Award
Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas from Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas (UMPIL)
Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan in Literature from the City of Manila
Premio Feronia, Foreign Author, 2009 ..
