José Garcia Villa was a Filipino-American poet born in 1908 in Manila. He published erotic poems in 1929 which led to his suspension from the University of the Philippines. He then used the prize money from a short story contest to travel to the US where he studied in New Mexico. Villa lived in Greenwich Village and was the only Asian poet in a community of modernist poets. His 1933 book Footnote to Youth was the first book by a Filipino author published by a major US press. Villa published several poetry collections and received many honors throughout his career, including being named a National Artist of the Philippines. He died in New York City in 1997.

1. Who is José Garcia
Villa

2. José Garcia Villa (1908-1997)
- was born in Manila in 1908.
- He attended the University of the
Philippines, but he was suspended in
1929 after publishing a series of erotic
poems, titled “Man-Songs,” in
the Philippines Herald Magazine.
- That same year, he won a short story
contest through the Philippines Free
Press and used the prize money to
travel to the United States, where he
studied at the University of New Mexico.

3. - From New Mexico, Villa moved to
Greenwich Village in New York City.
- There, he became the only Asian
poet in a community that also
consisted of E. E. Cummings, W. H.
Auden, and other modernist poets.
- In 1933 his Footnote to Youth: Tales
of the Philippines and Others (Charles
Scribner’s Sons) became the first
book of fiction by a Filipino author
published by a major United States-
based press.

4. - Villa also continued to publish in the Philippines, and
his poetry collections Many Voices (Philippine Book
Guild) and Poems (The Philippine Writers’ League)
appeared in 1939 and 1941, respectively.
- In 1942 he published his first poetry collection in the
United States, Have Come, Am Here (Viking Press),
which was a finalist for the 1943 Pulitzer Prize.

5. - He went on to publish several more poetry collections in the
Philippines, including Poems in Praise of Love (A. S.
Florentino, 1962), and two in the United States, Selected
Poems and New (McDowell Obolensky, 1958) and Volume
Two (New Directions, 1949).
- Villa was the recipient of numerous honors and awards,
including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Philippines Heritage
Award, a Poetry Award from the American Academy of Arts
and Letters, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, and a
Shelley Memorial Award.

6. - In 1973 he was named a National
Artist of the Philippines, and he
also served as a cultural advisor to
the Philippine government.
- He died in New York City on
February 7, 1997.

7. THE ANCHORED ANGEL: SELECTED
WRITINGS BY JOSÉ GARCIA VILLA
reintroduces the work of the celebrated
writer to the United States.
Doveglion,” which was a combination
of the words “dove,” “eagle,” and
“lion” and was what he believed was
his true persona.

8. It has more than 10 poems
written by him
First anthology of Villa's essays
written from the 1920s to the 1950s,
which created a canon of Philippine
fiction and poetry--essays counting
as among the most significant in
Philippine literary criticism in English

9. Jose Garcia Villa's first book of
poems, HAVE COME, AM HERE,
brought him immediate recognition as
one of the finest & purest poets
writing today
In Poetry Is, his former student and friend, Robert L.
King, gathered and structured Villa’s numerous lectures
on various aspects related to poetry: Poetry Workshop I
(1952-1960) at New York City College and Poetry
Workshop II (1964-1973) at The New School for Social
Research. While the first fourteen chapters are aimed
at teaching what poetry is and what poetry is not, the
next eleven chapters provide a step-by-step analysis of
the specific problems encountered in the composition
of a poem.

10. "Here in Parlement of Giraffes, children
are welcomed into Villa's magical world of
poetry where they may speak to giraffes;
invite a tiger for the weekend; observe
pink and blue monks eating pink and blue
raisins; eat snails, mussels and
mermaids; learn that from peaches, polar
bears are made; dance with God among
the strawberries; and even join God
laughing, strolling upside down." -Jose
Here at last, insofar as possible
for the meticulous and
indefatigable scholar, an amazing
collection of the entire corpus of
Jose Garcia Villa’s short stories!

11. “Footnote to Youth” is a Philippine literature
that was published under the publishing
company Charles Scribner’s Sons which is
located in New York City. This book is about
how a boy and a girl experienced what real
life is at an early age because of their
naiveness and stubbornness. They followed
their heart and did what they thought was
right which is to marry at an age of 17 and
had a children of their own. Because of this,
they have encountered hardships in making
their lives stable. And just like how history
repeats itself, their son also had the same
situation as them. It presents the value of
being hard-working as how the father of the
main character was described and also the
main character as well.

12. THANK YOU
LY C A M . D U R A N
R E P O R T E R