( sample of her work.) |
Maria Luisa published her first short
fictional work at the age of 19 during her first year as an elementary teacher
in Bacolod. It was in Hiligaynon magazine. That was in 1963.
Maria Luisa to date has published
eight novels- five in comics form and three in prose form. All these were
serialized in Yuhum. These are:
- Si Emelie, Si Nelie
- Tunay nga Tag-iya
- Sa Tagsa ka Dughan
- Salut sa Villa Morgana
- Mga Angel sang Mansion Monteasul
- Mansion Monteasul
- Nasalapuan nga Langit
- Mansion del Muerte
She also maintained a column for
Hiligaynon called “Indi Mapatihan apang Matuod” (Unbelievable but true) in
Yuhum. This is a series of true-to-life stories about extraordinary and
paranormal experiences of ordinary people she interviewed.
In 1990 Maria Luisa started to write
a column for Hiligaynon titled “Sa Aton Puluy-an” (In Our Home). Here, she has
been writing short essays about day-to-day living like cooking, studying,
gardening, health issues, religion and sometimes politics.
In an interview in the summer of
2003, Maria Luisa estimated the number of her works: more or less 1,00 short
stories and more or less 676 essays.
Maria Luisa had also published
children’s literature in English and Filipino in national publications like Paslit and The Philippine Journal of Education. She had also poems published
in HomeLife Magazine (1995-1997 and
1998). A poem of hers was included in
Patubas: An Anthology of West Visayan Poetry, a groundbreaking anthology
edited by Leoncio P. Deriada published in 1995 by the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts.
Her stories were also included in
book-form journals like Ang Kapawa, Balangaw, Ani (Cultural Center of the
Philippines), and SanAg (Fray de Leon Creative Writing Institute)
(Augustinian,
The Social Sciences and Humanities Journal of the University of San Agustin,
Vol. 11, May 2007. Writing and Loving, Loving and Writing: A short Bibliography
of Maria Luisa S. Defante-Gibraltar, by J.I.E Teodoro)
To long make it shorter
ReplyDeleteNOW!!!
ReplyDeleteMy mother is a student of ma'am Malou in Igcocolo Elem. School
ReplyDeleteReally honored to be one of her fellow members in one of the establised hilgaynon writers group.
ReplyDelete