Did you know: Nat’l Artist Francisco Arcellana

TODAY, Sept. 6, is the 100th birth anniversary of National Artist for Literature Francisco Arcellana. Born in Sta. Cruz, Manila, in 1916, Arcellana was

a fictionist, poet, literary critic, journalist and teacher. He was declared National Artist for Literature in 1990. One of the forerunners of the modern Filipino fiction in English, he pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form. Among his short stories are “Frankie,” “The Man Who Would Be Poe,” “Death in a Factory” and “Lina.”  He died on Aug. 1, 2002. Marielle Medina, Inquirer Research