Azucena Grajo Uranza (27 January 1929 – 11 March 2012) is a Filipino

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

in the English language.

Biography

Uranza was born in Sorsogon, Sorsogon. She graduated from the

Far Eastern University Far Eastern University (), also referred to by its acronym FEU, is a Private university, private research non-sectarian university in Manila, Philippines. Created by the merger of Far Eastern College and the Institute of Accounts, Business and ...

of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

where she acquired a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 1952 and then an MA in English in 1969. Apart from being a writer, Uranza was also an associate professor of Literature and the Humanities at Far Eastern University. As a playwright, she wrote for the theater, radio, and television. Her plays were produced by Channel 4 (television), DZRH (radio), and the Far Eastern University.

Works

Novels

She has written the novels, '' Bamboo in the Wind'' (1990), ''

A Passing Season ''A Passing Season'' is a 2002 award-winning historical novel written by Filipino author Azucena Grajo Uranza.Feast of the Innocents'' (2003) and the '' Women of Tammuz'' (2004). It spans a hundred years of Philippine history and, in terms of

chronology Chronology (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , , ; and , ''wikt:-logia, -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the deter ...

, ''A Passing Season'' is the first, followed by ''The Women of Tammuz'', after which ''Bamboo in the Wind'' came

Martial Law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

"Bamboo in the Wind" by Azucena Grajo Uranza
amazon.com"Bamboo in the Wind" by Azucena Grajo Uranza
goodreads.com by the former

Philippine The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and despot, Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. The fourth part of the

saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

is the ''Feast of Innocents'', set in the Philippines' post-

People Power "People power" is a political slogan denoting the Populism, populist driving force of any social movement which invokes the authority of grassroots opinion and Will (philosophy), willpower, usually in opposition to that of conventionally organis ...

period. Uranza's

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s keep the Filipinos'

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

alive. A Passing Season is the saga of families during the time of the twin wars of 1896 and 1898, known in history as the Philippine Revolution and the Filipino-American War. It is the story of the Eduartes, the de Almogueiras, the Herreras, and their neighbor and occasional friends, the Ricaforts, trying to hold on to old and trusted rituals of daily life amidst the turbulence and upheaval in the last years of the nineteenth century in Manila. It is a novel about ordinary people - of Tibor and Aurora, Masin and his cousin Subas, of Torcuato, the servant boy who knows no other existence, but who, in the end, establishes a kinship with the epical heroes of the nation because his sacrifice has not been less noble. Women of Tammuz continues the saga with the stories revolving around the Eduartes and the Herreras right before and during World War II. Set in Manila in the last beleaguered months before the politico-military take-over in 1972, Bamboo in the Wind tells of the last desperate efforts of a people fighting to stave off disaster. Amid the escalating madness of a regime gone berserk, an odd assortment of people - a senator, a young nationalist, a dispossessed farmer, a radical activist, a convent school girl, a Jesuit scholastic, including the Eduartes, the Herreras, and their friends - make their way along the labyrinthine corridors of greed and power. Each is forced to examine his own commitment in the face of brutality and evil, as the book conjures up scene after scene of devastation: the massacre of the demonstrators, the demolition of Sapang Bato, the murder of the sugar plantation workers, the burning of the Laguardia ricefields. And, as a climax to the mounting violence, that final September day - the arrests, the torture, and finally the darkness that overtakes the land. In the Feast of the Innocents, we see the conclusion of the story of the Eduarte and Herrera families, who struggle to stay connected by means of their memories and the good they believe in, because these are the best weapons against the more sophisticated forms of present-day evil. Their fortunes have blended with their country's history in a counterpoint with the national dreams: their great-grandfathers had fought in the Revolution and the Philippine–American War; their fathers had gone to Bataan to fight a hopeless defense of their homeland; and they themselves had waged a covert campaign against a dictatorship. Now it is nearing the end of the next century and the country seems to be facing a hopeful time. The Eduartes and Herreras of the present generation must exercise eternal vigilance as they, like all decent Filipino families, confront violence, falsehood, and greed. Tony Eduarte comes face to face with a misguided colonel; Raul Herrera stands his ground against an unscrupulous newspaperman; Cielo Munoz tries to retrieve a child prostitute from the streets of Manila as she seeks to find meaning in the poverty and hopelessness around her. Feast of the Innocents is a novel of contemporary dreams and realities.

Other works

Uranza was also the author of the 2005 anthology of short stories entitled ''Voices in a Minor Key'', a volume of 22 short stories, and a book of plays entitled ''Masks and Mirrors''. Many of her short stories appeared in the pages of Filipino magazines such as ''Philippines Free Press'', ''Weekly Women's Magazine'', ''Focus Magazine''. She also wrote a

coffee table book A coffee table book, also known as a cocktail table book, is an oversized, usually hard-covered book whose purpose is for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and which can serve to inspire conversation o ...

entitled ''Arbol, An Etnographic Record of a Family''.

Recognition

Uranza was the recipient of the Philippine Centennial Awards for

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

, the

Palanca Memorial Awards The Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, popularly known as the Palanca Memorial Awards, are a set of literary awards for Philippine writers. Usually referred to as the "Pulitzer Prize of the Philippines," it is the country's highest l ...

for

, the Focus Philippines Literary Awards, the Pama-as, the Gintong Bai Award (

National Commission for Culture and the Arts The National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines (NCCA; , ) is the official government agency for culture in the Philippines. It is the overall policy making body, coordinating, and grants giving agency for the preservation, d ...

), and the Green and Gold Artist Award (Far Eastern University).Azucena Grajo Uranza
, panitikan.com.ph

References