Gregorio Brillantes, the prolific author of The Distance to Andromeda and Other Stories and The Apollo Centennial, has died.
Videos by Suggest
The legendary writer passed away on Friday at the age of 92 due to complications from pneumonia, his family confirmed to Rolling Stone.
His nephew, Joey Brillantes, confirmed his death on Facebook.
Joey described “Tito Greg” as a link between post-war literary modernism and late 20th-century Philippine issues like martial law, social inequality, spiritual struggles, family dislocation, and urbanization.
“Unlike some writers who turned to long form or overt political tract, he remained largely within the short story form — and used that constraint to distill character, mood, and moral paradox,” he added.
Brillantes started his career at Ateneo de Manila University, editing the Ateneo Quarterly alongside poets Emmanuel Torres and Leonidas Benesa. In 1952, he published his first short story in the Philippines Free Press.
According to Rolling Stone, he was considered a landmark “Catholic Writer.” Beyond his fiction, he published essay collections like Looking for Rizal in Madrid (a travel literature piece), Chronicles of Interesting Times (observations on the nation), and The Cardinal’s Sins, the General’s Cross, the Martyr’s Testimony and Other Affirmations (a compilation from various journals including Free Press, Philippines Leader, National Mid-Week and Philippine Graphic).
Gregorio C. Brillantes’ First Short Story Collection Dropped in 1960
His first short story collection, The Distance to Andromeda and Other Stories (1960), included an introduction by NVM Gonzalez, who called it “Perhaps our most firmly Catholic book of fiction.” Critics later named it one of the “ten most significant books published in the Philippines in the last 50 years,” per Rolling Stone.
Some of Brillantes’ acclaimed works include “Climate of Disaster, Season of Disgrace,” “Faith, Love, Time, and Dr. Lazaro,” and “The Flood in Tarlac.” He was inducted into the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards in Literature Hall of Fame.
He received lifetime achievement awards, including the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining from the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas from UMPIL. Other honors include the EWCAAP Most Outstanding Alumna Recognition and the Tanghal ng Lahi Award from Ateneo De Manila University. He was also a founding member of the Philippine Chapter of International PEN.
He is survived by his wife, Lourdes Castrillo Brillantes; his three daughters, Patricia Brillantes-Silvestre, Cecilia Brillantes-Conlu, and Alicia Brillantes-Flores; and his granddaughters, Rebecca, Isabella, and Katerina.