Gémino H Abad

Who is Gémino H Abad?

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 which published Caracoa, a poetry journal in English. His other works include Fugitive Emphasis; In Another Light; A Formal Approach to Lyric Poetry; The Space Between; Poems and Parables; Index to Filipino Poetry in English, 1905-1950 and State of Play. He edited landmark anthologies of Filipino poetry in English, among them Man of Earth, A Native Clearing and A Habit of Shores: Filipino Poetry and Verse from English, ‘60s to the ‘90s.