Fil-Am fictionist-teacher Paulino Lim to receive UST award

THE VARSITARIAN, the 88-yearold official student publication of the University of Santo Tomas (UST), will confer its annual Parangal Hagbong on FilipinoAmerican novelist and professor Paulino Lim Jr. for distinguished contribution to letters.

The award is the highlight of the 31st Gawad Ustetika, the longest-running campus literary derby in the country, on March 5, at the Buenaventura G. Paredes, OP building of UST.

Started in 1997, Parangal Hagbong is given by The Varsitarian to UST alumni for lifetime achievement in letters.

Lim graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Education and likewise earned a master’s degree in English from UST. He acquired his doctorate degree in English from the University of California, Los Angeles.

In college, Lim was reporter, cadet editor and associate editor of The Varsitarian, where his short stories were initially published under the pen name “Mars.”

Born in 1935 in Camalig, Albay, Lim is the author of the novels, “Tiger Orchids on Mount Mayon” (1990), “Sparrows Don’t Sing in the Philippines” (1994), “Requiem for a Rebel Priest” (1996) and “Ka Gaby, Nom de Guerre” (2001), all published under New Day Publishers; and two short story collections, “Passion Summer and Other Stories,” under New Day, and “Curacao Cure & Other Stories,” under Anvil Publishing. He also wrote a scholarly monograph, “The Style of Lord Byron’s Plays,” published in 1973. The UST Publishing House has published Lim’s “Ménage Filipinescas : A Play in Three Acts.”

Lim is professor emeritus of English at the California State University.

Previous recipients of the Parangal Hagbong include National Artist for Literature and Theater Rolando Tinio and Rogelio Sicat (1997); Genoveva Edroza-Matute (1998); National Artist for Visual Arts J. Elizalde Navarro (1999; for his art criticism); Lilia Pablo Amansec (2001); Sr. Delia Coronel, ICM (2003); National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin, and Wilfrido Nolledo (2004); Zeneida Amador and National Artist for Literature F. Sionil José (2005); Florentino Hornedo and Federico Espino Licsí (2011); Rita Gaddi (2012); and Norma Miraflor (2013).

Jurors for this year’s Ustetika are Carlomar Daoana, Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta and Marne Kilates (poetry); Victor Emmanuel Nadera, Rebecca Añonuevo and Josélito de los Reyes ( tula); Sarge Lacuesta, Agusto Antonio Aguila and Francezca Kwe (fiction); Jun Cruz Reyes, Eros Atalia and Abdon Balde Jr. ( katha); John Jack Wigley, Oscar Campomanes and Shirley Lua (essay); Beverly Sy, José Wendell Capili and Gary Devilles ( sanaysay); Chuckberry Pascual, José Victor Torres and Ralph Galan (drama); and Michael Coroza, Luis Gatmaitan and Edgar Samar (children’s story).