Loreto Paras-Sulit was a Filipino

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 writer best known for her English-language short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

.

Biography

Paras-Sulit was born in Ermita, Manila

Ermita, Manila

Ermita is a district of Manila, Philippines located halfway between Intramuros and Malate.-History:Ermita was founded in the late 16th century...

. After finishing her secondary education in Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

, she entered the University of the Philippines

University of the Philippines

The ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...

, where she first gained notice for her short fiction. While at the University, she co-founded the U.P. Writer's Club in 1927 along with other student-writers such as Arturo Rotor and Jose Garcia Villa

José García Villa

Jose Garcia Villa was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded the National Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973, as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing by Conrad Aiken...

. She graduated with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in education, magna cum laude, in 1930.

Paras-Sulit would join the faculty of Florentino Torres High School

Florentino Torres High School

Florentino Torres High School, commonly known as Torres High School, situated in Tondo, Manila, Philippines, is one of the oldest public schools in Metro Manila.Florentino Torres High School, is one of the oldest school in Manila.-Administration:...

 as an English teacher while maintaining an active writing career. She was a member of the Philippine Writers Association and the Literary Guild of the Philippines. In the 1940s, she joined the Philippine National Red Cross

Philippine National Red Cross

Born officially in 1947, Philippine Red Cross , a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, has roots that trace back to the revolutionary days...

, of which she served as secretary-general for several decades. While at the Red Cross, she shifted her focus to short stories for children, publishing several works of that variety at the Philippine Junior Red Cross Magazine. She retired from public life after retiring from the Red Cross, dying in April, 2008 at the age of 99.

Works

Paras-Sulit was considered at her productive peak during the period from 1927 to 1937. Her contemporary at the University of the Philippines, Jose Garcia Villa, was an admirer of her works, and included several of her short stories in his annual honor roll of short fiction. The novelist Juan Laya extolled her in 1951 as "one of the few remaining great pioneers of Philippine literature in English. Many of her stories remain unsurpassed in this day in sensitivity and depth of feeling."

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