Filipino Poet, Writer, Educator and Public Servant

Luis G. Dato, also known by his pseudonym ISAROG, was a Bikolano poet, writer, educator, and public servant hailing from Baao, Camarines Sur, Philippines. He is recognized as one of the pioneering Filipino poets writing in English during the 20th century and is the author of notable works such as “The Spouse,” “Malolos,” “Day on the Farm,” and “Among the Hills,” among others.

His poetry has been featured in various anthologies, including “Filipino Poetry” by Rodolfo Dato in 1924; “Philippine Prose and Poetry” edited by Jose Garcia Villa in 1949; “German-English Anthology of Filipino Poets” by Pablo Laslo in 1934; “Readings in Philippine Literature” by Celedonio G. Aguilar in 1994; “Our Scene So Fair: Filipino Poetry in English, 1905-1955” edited by Gémino H. Abad in 2008; “Brown River, White Ocean: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Philippine Literature in English” published in 1993; “Writers & Their Milieu: An Oral History of First Generation Writers in English” by Edilberto Alegre and Doreen Fernandez in 2012; and “Philippine Poetry in English, 1928-1950: A Critical Survey” by Joseph Ignatius Bengzon Gonzales in 1986, to name just a few.