Estrella D. Alfon (May 27, 1917 – December 27, 1983) was a prolific

Filipina Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino, English, or other Philippine languages. Despite formerly being subject to ...

author who wrote in English. She was a professor of Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines in Manila, though she only had an AA degree. She was a member of the UP Writers Club.

Personal life

Estrella Alfon was born in

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 964,169 people, making ...

in 1917. Her parents were

shopkeeper A shopkeeper is a retail merchant or tradesman; one who owns or operates a small store or shop. Generally, shop employees are not shopkeepers, but are often incorrectly referred to as such. At larger companies, a shopkeeper is usually referred t ...

s. She attended college, studying

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

. After being mistakenly diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and sent to a sanitarium, she resigned from her

pre-medical Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students mostly in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med ...

education, leaving with an

Associate of Arts An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

degree. Alfon had several children: Alan Rivera, Esmeralda "Mimi" Rivera, Brian Alfon, Estrella "Twinkie" Alfon, and Rita "Daday" Alfon (deceased). She had ten grandchildren. Her youngest daughter was a

stewardess A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

for

Saudi Arabian Airlines Saudia (), formerly known as Saudi Arabian Airlines (), is the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia based in Jeddah. The airline's main hubs are the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, th ...

, and was part of the Flight 163 crew on August 19, 1980, when an in-flight fire forced the aircraft to land in

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

. A delayed evacuation resulted in the death of all aboard the flight. Alfon died on December 27, 1983, following a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

suffered on-stage during the

Manila Film Festival The Manila Tagalog Film Festival, also known as the Manila Film Festival, was a film festival organized in the city of Manila, Philippines. It is considered as the precursor to the Metro Manila Film Festival. History Then- Manila Mayor Antoni ...

Awards Night.

Career

While a student in Cebu when, Alfon published her first short stories, in periodicals such as ''Graphic Weekly Magazine'', ''Philippine Magazine'', and the ''Sunday Tribune''. She was a prolific storywriter,

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 ...

, and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. In spite of being a Cebuana, she wrote almost exclusively in English. She published her first story, “Grey Confetti”, in the Graphic in 1935. Alfon was at times charged with sloppy writing and suspected of writing exclusively for profit, rather than passion. She was the only female member of the Veronicans, an

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

group of writers in the 1930s led by Francisco Arcellana and H.R. Ocampo, being also regarded as their

muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

. The Veronicans are recognized as the first group of Filipino writers to write almost exclusively in English and were formed prior to the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Alfon was a regular contributor to Manila-based national magazines, having several stories cited in Jose Garcia Villa’s annual honor rolls. Thelma E. Arambulo described her in the following way: In the 1950s, her short story, "Fairy Tale for the City", was condemned by the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

League of the Philippines as being "

obscene An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin , , "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral ...

". She was even brought to court on these charges. While many of her fellow writers did stand by her, some did not. These events hurt her deeply. In spite of having only a basic A.A. degree, she was eventually appointed as a professor of

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

at the University of the Philippines, Manila. She held the National Fellowship in Fiction post at the U.P. Creative Writing Center in 1979. She would also serve on the Philippine Board of Tourism in the 1970s.

Awards

* 1940: A collection of her early short stories, “Dear Esmeralda,” won Honorable Mention in the Commonwealth Literary Award. * 1961-1962: Four of her

one-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

s won all the prizes in the Arena Theater Play Writing Contest: “Losers Keepers” (first prize), “Strangers” (second prize), “Rice” (third prize), and “Beggar” (fourth prize). * 1961-1962: Won top prize in the Palanca Contest for “With Patches of Many Hues.” * 1974: Second place Palanca Award for her short story, "The White Dress". * 1979: National Fellowship in Fiction post at the U.P. Creative Writing Center. Alfon won the

Palanca 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 ...

a number of times: * ''Forever Witches'', one-act play (Third place,

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

) * ''With Patches of Many Hues'', one-act play (First place,

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

) * ''Tubig'', One-act Play (Second place,

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

) * ''The Knitting Straw'', one-act play, (Third place,

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

) * ''The White Dress'', short story (Second place,

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

)

Partial bibliography

* ''Magnificence and Other Stories'' (1960) * ''Stories of Estrella Alfon'' (1994) (published posthumously) * ''Servant Girl'' (short story)

Legacy

In an interview, Luisa Igloria said of Alfon:

References

External links and other sources

www.bisaya.com Visayan Literature page
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Full Text: Rice by Estrella Alfon

Full Text: Magnificence by Estrella Alfon

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfon, Estrella D. 1917 births 1983 deaths Cebuano writers University of the Philippines alumni Filipino women writers People from Cebu City Writers from Cebu English-language writers from the Philippines 20th-century Filipino women writers 20th-century Filipino writers