On Sunday, Aug. 16, daughter-in-law Kit Lacaba announced on social media the passing of award-winning writer Marra PL Lanot. She was 82.
It was mentioned that she had a ‘prolonged hospital stay,’ though no cause of her death was disclosed.
Lanot is survived by her husband, multi-awarded journalist, poet, and editor Jose ‘Pete’ Lacaba; son Kris and daughter-in-law Kit; three grandchildren; and two siblings.
She is the daughter of writer, editor, and astrologer Serafin Lanot, and Gloria, a homemaker and food entrepreneur known for her exceptional culinary skills..
Lanot was a distinguished poet, essayist, freelance journalist, cultural activist, and founding member of the Women Writers in Media Now (Women), a collective of women journalists and literary writers who wrote about the nation’s struggle for freedom, social justice, and human rights during the Martial Law regime.
She is also a member of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines.
From 1986 to 1989, she served as Associate Artistic Director for Visual, Literary, and Media Arts, and Director of the Coordinating Center for Literature. She was also a Board Member of the Movie and Television Rating and Classification Board (MTRCB).
Lanot worked with her husband Pete for Philippines Graphic when it was launched in 1990, with National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin as editor-in-chief.
In 2022, she remained steadfast in her support for writers and Philippine literature by returning to the Philippines Graphic-the country’s longest-running news and literary magazine that organizes the annual Nick Joaquin Literary Awards (NJLA)- as literary editor and editor-in-chief of the Philippines Graphic Reader, the first and only nationally-circulated monthly magazine supplement dedicated to Philippine literature in English.
The Philippines Graphic and the BusinessMirror are sister publications under the ALC Media Group.
A trilingual writer, Lanot has translated poems from English and Filipino into Spanish. Her own poetry has been translated and published in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Dutch, and Japanese.
She has been an official delegate to several literary festivals in the Philippines and abroad. She was the only Asian delegate at the V Encuentro de Poetas del Mundo Latino in Mexico and was the sole Philippine delegate to the 23rd Festival Internacional de Poesía de Medellín in Colombia.
In 1967, Lanot won her first Palanca, landing second place in the poetry category for her collection of poems titled, ‘Sheaves of Things Burning.’ In 1980, she won first prize at the Palanca Awards for English essay. In 1989, she won the Catholic Mass Media Award for her weekly National Midweek column titled ‘Siyanga Pala.’
In 1986, Lanot became a fellow at the prestigious International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.
She has authored 16 books, including ‘Cadena de Amor: New and Selected Poems in English, Filipino, and Spanish’ (2017), ‘Darna and Other Idols’ (2012), ‘Riding the Full Moon and Other Poems in Filipino and Spanish’ (2008), ‘The Trouble with Nick and Other Profiles’ (1999), ‘Dream Sketches’ (1991), ‘Flowers of the Sun’ (1970), and ‘Sheaves of Things Burning’ (1967).