Filipino novelist, poet, playwright and essayist writing in English, National Artist for Literature. Joaquin is widely considered the best post-war author in his country. He wrote largely about the Spanish colonial period and the diverse heritage of the Filipino people. It often deals with the coexistence of “primitive” and “civilized” dimensions within the human psyche. In his short story "The Summer Solstice," set in 1850, Joaquin portrayed the collision between instincts and refined culture. Doña Lupeng at first rejects the ancient beliefs, but under the spell of the moon she is possessed by the spirit of the Tadtarin cult: she no longer wants to be loved and respected but adored as the embodiment of matriarchal powers." She raised her head, her face dripping, and touched her lips bruised to the toes; he raised his hands and grasped the white foot and kissed it savagely - kissed the step, the sole, the fragile ankle - while she bit her lips and clung painfully to the windowsill, to his body stretched out and shaking with horrible shivers, with her head thrown back and her hair loose and flying out of the window - flowing fluid and black in the white night where the huge moon shone like a sun and the dry air flamed in flashes and lightning. the pure heat burned with the immense, intense fever of midday." (from 'The Summer Solstice' in Tropical Gothic, 1972) Nick Joaquin was born in Paco on Calle Herran, the son of Leocadio Y. Joaquin, a lawyer and colonel of the Philippine Revolution, and Salome Márquez, a teacher. After three years of secondary education at Mapa High School, Joaquin dropped out of school to work on the Manila waterfront and do odd jobs. In his free time he read a lot at the National Library and in his father's library. English had become the official medium of instruction in 1898 after the Spanish-American War. Mainly 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 became a 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 continued to edit the Asia-Philippine Leader.