Mr. Joel Toledo, M.A., of the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters’ Department of Creative Writing, was conferred the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas by the Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas (UMPIL) during its 51st National Writers’ Congress held on April 26 at the Gimenez Gallery in the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman.
Toledo was recognized for his outstanding contributions to Philippine literature, particularly in English poetry. He is the author of six poetry collections, including Chiaroscuro and Planet Nine, both published by UST Publishing House. A former literary editor of the Philippines Free Press, he is also a recipient of the 2006 National Commission for Culture and Arts’ Writers Prize and multiple honors such as the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award, Meritage Press Poetry Prize, and Bridport Prize.
Toledo was a poetry fellow at the 2011 International Writing Program at the University of Iowa and has received Rockefeller Foundation residencies in Bellagio, Italy, in 2011 and 2023. His work has been featured in leading literary journals, including The Iowa Review, ZYZZYVA, Prairie Schooner, and UP Likhaan. He has also co-edited both local and international poetry journals and anthologies, including Caracoa, Under the Storm, and Cordite Poetry Review. UMPIL’s Pambansang Gawad ni Balagtas honors Filipino writers who have made lasting contributions to the country’s literary tradition.
Toledo teaches Poetry, Advanced Poetics, and Shakespeare at the Department of Creative Writing of the Faculty of Arts and Letters.