Luis H. Francia

Luis H. Francia is a Filipino American poet, playwright, journalist, and nonfiction writer. His memoir, Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago, won both the 2002 PEN Open Book and the 2002 Asian American Literary Awards.

Early life and education Francia was born in Manila, Philippines. He graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with an AB in Humanities, cum laude and moved to New York in the 1970s. As a budding poet in New York, he studied with José García Villa, the National Artist of the Philippines for literature, at The New School and later at his private workshop in Greenwich Village. Francia wrote the introduction to the 2008 Penguin Classics edition of Villa’s poetry, Doveglion: Collected Poems.

He has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Yale University, City University of Hong Kong, Ateneo De Manila University, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and Hunter College. and teaches at New York University.

He lives in Queens with his wife, Dr. Midori Yamamura,

Career His poetry books include The Arctic Archipelago and other poems, The Beauty of Ghosts, Museum of Absences, and Tattered Boat. In 1978, he won first prize in the poetry competition of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature for "15 Poems". He has two essay collections, Memories of Overdevelopment: Reviews and Essays of Two Decades and RE: Recollections, Reviews, Reflections, which won the National Book Development Board and the Manila Critics’ Circle National Book Award for Best Collection of Essays in English in 2016. He also completed A History of the Philippines: from Indios Bravos to Filipinos in 2010.

Two of Francia’s plays have been staged: The Beauty of Ghosts at Topaz Arts in New York in 2007 and 2014 and The Strange Case of Citizen de la Cruz at Bindlestiff Studio in San Francisco in 2012.

He is the editor of Brown River, White Ocean: An Anthology of Twentieth Century Philippine Literature in English; co-editor with Eric Gamalinda of Flippin’: Filipinos on America, and with Angel Velasco Shaw of Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream, 1899-1999. He is included in numerous anthologies, including The Library of America’s Becoming Americans: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing.

Francia has written for a number of publications, including The Village Voice, The Nation, and The New York Times. He was a New York correspondent for Hong Kong’s Asiaweek and a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review. He also has provided commentary for National Public Radio (NPR) and KPFA in San Francisco.

Awards, artist grants, and fellowships

Awards 1978 Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, first prize in poetry for “15 Poems” 2002 PEN Open Book Award Award Winner for Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago 2002 Asian American Literary Award Winner for Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago 2013 Filipino American National Historical Society, Metro New York Chapter Lifetime Achievement Award 2014 Gawad Balagtas Award for literature, UMPIL (Writers Union of the Philippines) 2014 Knights of Rizal Award for Achievements in Arts and Literature 2016 National Book Development Board and the Manila Critics’ Circle National Book Award for Best Collection of Essays in English Queens Council of the Arts, individual artist grant for poetry (2007) Sun Yat-sen University Writer-in-Residence (fall 2017)

Works

Poetry

Her Beauty Likes Me Well, with David Friedman, Petrarch Press, 1975 The Arctic Archipelago and other poems, Ateneo de Manila University, 1992 Museum of Absences, Meritage Press, 2004 The Beauty of Ghosts, Ateneo De Manila University Press, 2010 Tattered Boat, University of the Philippines Press, 2014

Poetry anthology inclusions (partial)

Alfrredo Navarro Salanga and Esther Pacheco, eds. Versus: Philippine Protest Poetry. Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1986. Gemino Abad and Alfred Yuson, eds. The Best of Caracoa. Manila: Philippine Literary Arts Council, 1991. José García Villa, ed. The New Doveglion Book of Philippine Poetry. Manila: Anvil Publishing, 1993. Nick Carbó, ed. Returning a Borrowed Tongue. Minneapolis: Coffeehouse Press, 1996. Gemino Abad, ed. A Habit of Shores: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English, ’60s to the ’90s. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1999. Rajini Srikanth and Esther Y. Iwanaga, eds. Bold Words: A Century of Asian American Writing. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2001. Ramón C. Sunico, Alfred A. Yuson, Alvin Pang, and Aaron Lee, eds. Love Gathers All: The Philippines-Singapore Anthology of Love Poetry. Manila/Singapore: Anvil Publishing/Ethos Books, 2002. Nick Carbó and Eileen Tabios, eds. Pinoy Poetics. San Francisco: Meritage Press, 2004. Edwin Lozada, ed. Field of Mirrors: Anthology of Philippine-American Writers. San Francisco: Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc. 2008. Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal, and Ravi Shankar, eds. Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond. New York: Norton, 2008. Steve Fellner and Phil Young, eds. Love Rise Up: Poems of Social Justice, Protest & Hope. Hopkins, Minnesota: Benu Press, 2012. Rajeev S. Patke, Isabela Banzon, Philip Holden, Lily Rose Tope, eds. An Anthology of English Writing from Southeast Asia. Singapore: National Library Board, 2014. Gemino Abad and Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta, eds. The Achieve of, the Mastery: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English, Mid-'90s to 2016. 2 vols. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2018.

Theater/performance

The Beauty of Ghosts. Poetry narratives performed by professional actors and poets. Topaz Arts, New York, 2007 world premiere and 2014 revival. The Strange Case of Citizen de la Cruz. World premiere of full-length play, Bindlestiff Theater, San Francisco, 2012. Black Henry. Dramatic reading of full-length play. New York: Diverse City Theater Company, 2007; Topaz Arts, 2014; Philippines: Cebu City, 2016. “Fruity Text.” Poetry for performance, commissioned by choreographer Paz Tanjuatquio. Brooklyn: Long Island University, 1998; Manhattan: The Merce Cunningham Dance Studio, 1999.

Nonfiction

Memories of Overdevelopment: Reviews and Essays of Two Decades, Anvil Pub, 1998 Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago, MUAE Publishing, 2001 A History of the Philippines: from Indios Bravos to Filipinos, The Overlook Press, 2010 RE: Recollections, Reviews, Reflections, University of the Philippines Press, 2015

Anthologies edited

Co-editor with Indran Amirthanayagam, Kimiko Hahn, and Peter Kwong, "New Asia Issue: Selected writings by Asian-American authors," The Portable Lower East Side, Vol. 7, No. 2, 1990 Brown River, White Ocean: An Anthology of Twentieth Century Philippine Literature in English, Rutgers University Press, 1993 Co-editor with Eric Gamalinda, Flippin’: Filipinos on America, Asian American Writers' Workshop, 1996 Co-editor with Angel Velasco Shaw, Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream, 1899-1999, NYU Press, 2002