Danton Remoto's journey to Success Through Hardwork: Danton Remoto's Contribution to the Literature of His Country

One of the Best Filipino Writers

Danton Remoto

Danton Remoto is writer from Region 3. He was born on March 25 1963 in Basa Air Base, Pampanga. He studied in ADMU were he was an ASEAN scholar. He obtained his AB Interdisciplinary Studies in 1983 in the said school. With his Robert Southwell scholarship, Remoto obtained his MA English Lit., 1989; then, on a British Council fellowship, another MA in publishing studies, 1990, at the University Of Stirling, Scotland. He was a Local fellow for poetry at the UP Creative Writing Center, 1994. He was at Hawthornden Castle, 1993, and later, at the Cambridge Seminar. He has won various awards, among them, the ASEAN prize for the essay, 1979; the Palanca for the essay in 1987; the CCP literary award for poetry; the Stirling District Arts Council award for poetry and the short story. Some of his books are Pulotgata, Skin voices faces, Bright, Catholic, and Gay.

Article

I read one of his articles, “Ready for 2^nd semester”. This article answers the question, “How does one study?” Remoto sighted some advices. First, “Listen to the teacher.” He wrote in his articles that if the teacher repeats a point two times, take note of it. Read everything thrice, first one should read a text like scanning it then read it slowly by marking some important points. After, summarize the points of the text that you’ve read. Master the four skills which are speaking, writing, reading, and learning. Most of us are into internet surfing, texting, and watching movies. We don’t have time to read books or articles. Mostly we are into social media, what about use this to read books and discover new and interesting article. Budget your time, we students should budget our time. If we work hard getting good grades, we also work hard to relax. Eventhought we are students we should have time to relax. Consult with the teacher, if you are getting low grades in specific subject. Consult the teacher to let her that you are struggling in her subject. Use the library, most of the student is using “Google” as encyclopedia, dictionary, map, and etc: we have public library within reach where we can scan new books, study, or search something. If we use Google, we need internet connection. We know that our internet connection in the Philippines is slow and expensive, so why not use the library. Use your imagination, when studying; imagine things related to what you are studying. Never limit yourself in discovering new ideas which can help you in everything. Open your mind, be open to anything. Be open to new ideas. If someone will contradict your ideas, be open and listen and make an argument. In this way you can share ideas and gain ideas.

Career

Remoto worked as a reporter, editor, writer and columnist for the Philippine press from 1989.Remoto edited Alfredo Navarro Salanga's Buena Vista, a collection of poetry and fiction and was a co-editor of Gems in Philippine Literature. He became a Local Fellow for peotry in 1994. He also taught full-time at the Ateneo de Manila University from 1986 to 2009 then he later worked as a communications analyst UN develpment program.

Awards

According to wikipedia, Remoto was the recipient of several cultural and literary awards and recognition. In 1979, Remoto won the ASEAN prize for essay writing. In 1983, he won the Galian sa Arte at Tula award for poetry. In 1986, Remoto won the PLAC award for poetry. In 1987, Remoto was a Palanca Awards winner for essay writing. He was a three-time Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) awardee for poetry. He was a two-time 1989 and one-time 1990 awardee of the Stirling District Arts Council Award for poetry and short story writing. In 1993, Remoto became the Procyon Prize winner for poetry. He received the Cultural Center awards for film and video for the screenplay of the documentary House of the Crescent Moon and for the film The Last Parian. In 2004, Remoto obtained the Philippines Free Press Award for essay writing. In 2006, he became an awardee of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts Award for poetry translation. In 2007, Remoto was granted the Philippine Graphic magazine's Nick Joaquin Award for short story writing.