Nick Joaquin

Nick Joaquin was born in Paco on Calle Herran, as the the son of Leocadio Y. Joaquin, a lawyer and a colonel of the Philippine Revolution, and Salome Marquez, a schoolteacher. After three years of secondary education at the Mapa High School, Joaquin dropped out of school to work on Manila's waterfront and in odd jobs. On his spare time he read widely at the National Library and on his father's library. English had became the official medium of instruction in 1898 after the Spanish-American war. Especially through the work of short story writers English became the most developed literary genre and virtually all Spanish literature ceased.

Starting as a proofreader at the Philippines Free Press, Joaquin rose to contributing editor and essayist under the pen name 'Quijano de Manila' (Manila Old Timer). After World War II Joaquin worked as a journalist, gaining fame as a reporter for the Free Press. In 1970 he left the Philippines Free Press and went on to edit Asia-Philippine Leader. During the reign of Ferdinand Marcos, who had won presidency in 1965, corruption started to fuel opposition to his administration. When martial law was declared in 1972 Joaquin was subsequently suspended. He then became the editor of the Philippine Graphic magazine and publisher of the Women's Weekly.

Joaquin started to write short stories, poems, and essays in 1934. One year later his first work appeared in the Tribune in 1935. In 1947 his essay on the defeat of a Dutch fleet by the Spaniards off the Philippines in 1646 earned him a scholarship to study in Hong Kong at the Albert College, founded by the Dominicans. Joaquin's studies for