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Gregorio Brillantes

Totel V. De Jesus

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175887665151172121cd6-40b3-499f-8768-5ec216da7717.jpeg" style="width:633px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Photo of Gregorio Brillantes taken by Sari Dalena in 2015 during the filming of her docu &#x27;Dahling Nick&#x27;"/>Photo of Gregorio Brillantes taken by Sari Dalena in 2015 during the filming of her docu &#x27;Dahling Nick&#x27;</div>One of the pillars of Philippine literature, Gregorio Concepción Brillantes, passed away at 7:24 on Friday morning, September 26, his nephew, Joey Brillantes, announced on Facebook. He was 92 years old. Brillantes, a Palanca Hall of Famer, was one of the Filipino masters of the short story in English and a pioneer in literary journalism in the Philippines. Among his collected works are “The Distance to Andromeda and Other Stories,” “The Apollo Centennial,” “Help,” “On a Clear Day in November,” “Shortly Before the Millennium,” and “Stories for a Quarter Century.”In 2023, the Ateneo de Manila University Press released a compilation of his 39 short stories titled “The Collected Stories of Gregorio C. Brillantes.” The collection covers around four decades (1952 to 1993), “reasserting his place in Philippine letters and offering a retrospective on his evolving concerns: family, faith, modernity, memory, temporality, the political milieu.”  Veteran fictionist-columnist Jose “Butch” Dalisay, described Brillantes as someone “who was special to me — as hero, mentor, and friend.”In a 2023 article on his blog, penmanila.ph, Dalisay recalled, “For a story written in the author’s mid- to late twenties, ‘The Distance to Andromeda’ already lays out, in full, Brillantes’ talent and vision, his familiar themes of family and love, of doubt and faith.”Besides “The Distance to Andromeda,” among Brillantes’ other influential works that have been widely anthologized in literary journals as well as high school and college textbooks, are “Faith, Love, Time, and Dr. Lazaro,” “The Flood In Tarlac,” “The Beautiful Gerrls.” As a journalist, Brillantes was a contemporary of National Artist Nick Joaquin, Wilfrido Nolledo and Jose “Pete” Lacaba, starting with the Philippines Free Press news magazine in the 1960s, the Asia-Philippines Leader in the 1970s and in later years for the Philippine Graphic Magazine and The National Midweek Magazine.Among his collection of literary essays and column pieces were “Looking for Rizal in Madrid,” “Chronicles of Interesting Times,” and “Cardinal’s Sins, General’s Cross, Martyr’s Testimony and Other Affirmations”.  Brillantes was born on December 18, 1932, in Camiling, Tarlac to a schoolteacher considered the founder of Camiling Secondary Institute and a mother who owned a drugstore (Farmacia Socorro).He graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University where he majored in Journalism. In 1962, he married Lourdes “Baby” Brillantes, and settled in Quezon City, where they raised three daughters: Patricia Brillantes-Silvestre, who became dean of the University of the Philippines College of Music; Chi Brillantes; and Alicia Brillantes-Flores. He had grandchildren and maintained close ties to his roots in Camiling, which often appeared in his work.In 2006, during the first visit of the famous English author Neil Gaiman, Fully Booked sponsored a graphic/fiction writing contest with P100,000 major prize and named it after Brillantes.“In his later years, after a fall in 2015 and a hip injury in 2017, he was increasingly confined in his mobility, yet continued to read, write, and respond to developments in Philippine society and literature. His passion for books, for conversation with younger writers, and for witnessing shifts in Philippine society remained vivid,” Joey said.Details of the wake and interment are yet to be announced as of this writing.

One of the pillars of Philippine literature, Gregorio Concepción Brillantes, passed away at 7:24 on Friday morning, September 26, his nephew, Joey Brillantes, announced on Facebook. He was 92 years old.

One of the pillars of Philippine literature, Gregorio Concepción Brillantes, passed away at 7:24 on Friday morning, September 26, his nephew, Joey Brillantes, announced on Facebook. He was 92 years old.

Gregorio C. Brillantes, writer of ‘The Distance To Andromeda,’ dies at 92

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Gregorio C. Brillantes, writer of ‘The Distance To Andromeda,’ dies at 92

Totel V. De Jesus

Published September 26, 2025 04:55 PM PHT

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Updated September 26, 2025 05:07 PM PHT

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Gregorio Brillantes

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