Blog #11

The Aspiring Author

Kerima Polotan Tuvera

Born on the 16^th of December 1925, Kerima Plotan Tuvera was an award winning Filipinofiction writer, essayist, and also a journalist. A few numbers of her stories was pseudonym under the name of “Patricia S. Torres.”

She was born in Jolo, Sulu. Her christened name was Putli Kerima (where Putli means princess). Her mother teaches home economics and her father was an army colonel. Because of her father’s frequent re assignments, she lived in various places and studied at different schools.

She graduated from the Far Eastern university Girl’s High School. In, 1944, she decided to enroll at the University of the Philippines School of nursing, however,  the battle of manila put a halt to her studies. In 1945, she continued her studies at the Arellano University. She attended the class of Teodoro M. Locsin. She edited her first issue of the Arellano Literary Review. She worked with Your Magazine, This week and The Junior Red Cross Magazine.

She has received many awards because of her literary skills. For example, her 1952 short story, The Virgin, won two first prizes: of the Philippines Free Press Litarary Awards and of the Palanca Awards. She also edited an anthology for the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, with English and Tagalog prize – winning short stories from 1951 to 1952. In addition to her rewards, her stories, The Trap, The Giants, The Tourists, The Sounds of Sunday, and A Various Season all won 1^st prizes of the Palanca awards.

Her awards shows and proves not only in our country, but also in the world that she is one of the best artists in our time. She never gave up and just went on doing what she loves to do and practiced and homed in on her talents. I can proudly say that she is part of our country’s greatest artist.