In the history of mankind, wars have taken away far more than it created anything. The 1945 Battle of Manila and the recent attacks in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv have shown us what we lose as a species when...

One day, toward the end of 1967, National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera sat down to look critically at the state of Philippine literature and what sorts of styles and literary figures have come to the scene.  Lumbera’s particular interest...

ONLY the very naive or the very cynical would try to predict the future course of Philippine literature. There are only the weekly magazines or the occasional books as signposts to indicate trends, and these signposts do not give very coherent directions.

How did China make the leap from being one of Asia’s poorest nations to becoming a global economic behemoth—all in a little more than six decades? In 2013, China emerged as the primary engine of global economic growth, officially surpassing...

While examining the archives of the Biblioteca Nacional de España, I encountered an albumen photograph labelled “Sala de pintura y escultura at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris.” The image is attributed to Juan Laurent—one of the most important...

BY HIS own admission, the young Orlando “Orly” Mercado was “a dyed-in-the-wool, left-wing activist,” having organized his first labor union shortly after beginning his broadcast journalism career. Born on April 26, 1946, he was only 20 years old when he...

Angelic, with a hint of sadness and uncertainty framing an otherwise cherubic, smiling face, the boy is small, thin, amiable, and sprightly. When asked what he wanted to be when he grows up, he quickly answered: “Gusto ko po maging...

The celebration of the Philippines’ arts and culture is a celebration for all, regardless of one’s proclivities, so long as it stands to illuminate the citizen—and the nation—for good. What does a beauty queen of mixed heritage have anything to...

A book smaller than your thumb, Roman coins before Christ’s time, priceless Ming jars, and all kinds of oddities—you’ll find them in PI’s oldest and largest museum. Where in the Philippines can one find a book which is smaller than...

Previous era of the arts had subversiveness, vulgarity, and blasphemy as its main problems. Now its inauthenticity—the single remaining line that shouldn’t be crossed. In Western theater, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle discussed “Thespis of Icaria” in his foundational literary...

Some 96 years ago, on June 12, 1929, the Graphic magazine published an article titled The Tinkers’ Dam by M. San Martin.