Francisco Sionil José, the National Artist for Literature who was one of the most widely read Filipino writers in the English language, died Thursday night. He was 97.
According to reports that cited his wife Tessie Jovellanos Jose, he died before an angioplasty operation at the Makati Medical Center scheduled today (Friday).
Born December 3, 1924, Jose’s novels and short stories depicted the social underpinnings of class struggles and colonialism in Filipino society.
José’s works have been translated into 28 languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Czech, Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian and Dutch.
An Ilocano born and raised in Rosales, Pangasinan, Jose used his hometown as the setting of many of his novels.
Sionil has written 14 books, notably “The God Stealer” and “Waywaya,” and the novellas in “Three Filipino Women.”
But his fame rests on his five-novel Rosales Saga: “Po-on,” “Tree,” “My Brother, My Executioner,” “The Pretenders” and “Mass.”
Jose also won the Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature in 1959, 1979, 1980 and 1981, the City of Manila Award for Literature (1979), the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts (1980), the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres (2000), and the Pablo Neruda Centennial Award (2004).