N. V. M. Gonzales (September 8, 1915-November 28, 1999), whose N.V.M. stands for Nestor Vicente Madali, was a fictionist, essayist, poet and teacher known for appropriating the English language to express, reflect and shape Philippine culture and Philippine sensibility. He became University of the Philippines' International Writer-in-Residence and a member of the Board of Advisers of the UP Creative Writing Center. Major works include The Winds of April, Seven Hills Away, Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and Other Stories, The Bamboo Dancers, Look Stranger, on this Island Now, Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty-One Stories, The Bread of Salt and Other Stories, Work on the Mountain, The Novel of Justice: Selected Essays 1968-1944, and A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stories. He was declared National Artist in 1997. (Agung, March-June 2015)
