VICENTE-IGNACIO SORIA de VEYRA is otherwise known as JoJo (spelled here that way, Black American-fashion, to represent a Bisaya accent or the Filipino "Jo" with the sudden stop). He is a Filipino poet and short story writer born on October 28, 1961, at about 2:15 p.m., in Tacloban City (on the Philippine island of Leyte).
After an unhappy try at schooling at the University of the Philippines College at Tacloban, Vicente finally entered in 1983 the U.P. College of Fine Arts, narrowing down into one (art) the multiple directions Vicente wanted to pursue as his life's mission. But soon he had to drop out in 1985, for financial and other reasons, though first he would take a student assistant's job at the U.P. Film Center under another student's name. He would just as soon remove himself from a life in the Philippine capital to hang around an academic life in provincial Tacloban, not as a student but with student- and teacher-friends -- this while alternately spending camaraderie time with roughneck neighbors in his hometown of Palo (outside of Tacloban, the town Gen. McArthur bombarded to be able to land for his safe 'return'). Vicente was beginning to write poetry and short stories when, through his academic brother Nino's prompting, he applied and was accepted for a writing fellowship to the 26th Silliman University Summer Writers Workshop in 1987. In 1988 he also applied and was taken in for another writing fellowship, this time to the 16th University of the Philippines Summer Writers Workshop (where he was awarded the Likhaan Award for his poems in English, a workshop award he subsequently returned -- finding the prize to have parallels in unnecessary kindergarten stars for being in a workshop supposedly for learners, not contestants!). He at once went back to Silliman, having been picked as one of five candidates to the first semester-long seminar-workshop experimental project of the S.U. Creative Writing Program, in school-year 1988 -- his was a writing fellowship which would be extended for another semester! After the grant, Vicente worked as a co-translator of Manobo epic-chants for the university.
Five of his poems had already been published when he first found himself at Silliman, by the "Philippine Literary Arts Council"'s Caracoa Poetry Journal in 1986. Other pieces soon followed, seeing print in several Philippine publications: the U.P. student organ Philippine Collegian, the Philippines Free Press, novelist F. Sionil Jose's Solidarity Journal, the left-leaning National Midweek (now defunct), the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Ani Journal, Panorama Magazine, the Philippine Graphic, and the now-missed The Evening Paper. In anthologies, his "sonnet for Batman" was included in the Best of Caracoa 1982-1992. His poem "sheeny one (if shoemaking)" (Caracoa, August 1986) was asked for Brown River, White Ocean (1993), an anthology of Philippine prose and poetry edited by Filipino-American poet Luis Francia and published by Rutgers University Press (New Jersey, USA) -- the piece appeared there as the poet-rehashed piece "leather excretes". In 1997, three of Vicente's pieces were included in a special issue of the Sands and Coral Journal devoted to pieces on the environment, titled Voices In The Wilderness: Writers In Their Environment. In the year 2001-02 period, new de Veyra pieces appeared in Sands & Coral, the Centennial Issue (SU, 2001); Eros Pinoy: An Anthology of Contemporary Erotica In Philippine Art & Poetry (Anvil, 2001); and Love Gathers All: A Philippine-Singapore Antholoigy of Love Poetry (NCCA & Anvil, 2002).
Vicente's first four poetry volumes were released as independent e-books on the Internet within the October 1999-January 2000 period by Down With Grundy, Publisher, in PDF format for FREE downloading. His fifth e-book of poems titled In The Level of Gods was later released on this site in April 27, 2001, re-released with a second edition January 1, 2002. These five poetry e-books, along with Vicente's sixth collection, are now the first six ONLINE BOOKS OF POEMS BY A FILIPINO AUTHOR. These online books are on this site: click here.
Meanwhile, Vicente's first e-book of stories, most works in which first appeared in National Midweek Magazine, was released October 22, 1999 by the same publisher, also previously downloadable on this site for FREE and now likewise a FIRST ONLINE BOOK OF STORIES BY A FILIPINO AUTHOR accessible through this site: click here. His novel titled Novel-of-Sorts will be available soon. A recent short piece titled "Styrofoam and Cellophane Packing" appeared in Sands & Coral 2002 (Future Shock: An Anthology of Young Writers and New Literatures [Vol. 1 -- Prose]), and will be the title piece of Vicente's second stories collection in progress.
Vicente had also been involved in theater, and had helped direct projects (with either exotic or socio-political subjects) by two provincial theater groups, and had written/designed (and acted in) symbolist performance pieces for provincial (though college-campus) audiences in both U.P. Tacloban and Silliman U. Also into pop music, Vicente performed in 1990 his own songs at a restaurant in the university town of Dumaguete City. In 2005, he formed with neighbors the Tacloban-derived experimental band named Groupies' Panciteria, now disbanded (the section in this site titled Groupies' Panciteria is a tribute to the band).
From August 1999, Vicente also had a stint as a contributor of little reviews and articles for National Midweek, pieces he would later see as good samples of things sophomoric.
HIS HOPE, of course, remains that of finishing one of his two novels-in-progress. Vicente has also just finished a screenplay-novel (or pseudo-screenplay in prose), but he knows (nay, hopes!) this'll never get produced as a movie.
He had been based exclusively in Bulacan province (on the outskirts of Manila) from 1993-2003 while working as an advertisements writer for seven Metro Manila ad agencies consecutively within that period. He now divides his time between Metro Manila, Bulacan, and Tacloban City.
Presently churning out tasks for a freelance telecommuting job, he aims to paint the Manila metropolis red with a graphic novel project in progress in collaboration with the painter Marcel Antonio. Meanwhile, he writes an occasional essay on his social criticism blog site titled "Social Isms" which he started in August, 2009.
-- updated August, 2009
LINKS TO THE OTHER SECTIONS IN THIS SITE:
home | about Jojo | site epigram | why "war photos"? | Vicente's poetry | Vicente's fiction | Vicente's social criticism | book notes | cinema notes | pop music notes | Groupies' Panciteria | Vicente's virtual art studio | Vicente the ad man | e-mail
