Maria Luisa published her first short fictional work at the age of 19 during her first year as an elementary teacher in Bacolod. It was in Hiligaynon magazine. That was in 1963.
Maria Luisa to date has published eight novels- five in comics form and three in prose form. All these were serialized in Yuhum. These are Si Emelie, Si Nelie ( Emelie and Nelie, comics 1999-2000); Tunay nga Tag-iya (Real Owner, comics, 1993-1995); Sa Tagsa ka Dughan (In every Heart, comics 1990-1991); Salut sa Villa Morgana ( The Plague at Villa Morgana, prose, 1986-1927); Mga Angel sang Mansion Monteasul (The Angels of Monteasul Mansion, comics, 1981); Mansion Monteasul (MonteasulMansion, prose, 1978) Nasalapuan nga Langit (Found Heaven, comics, 1979); and Mansion del Muerte (prose, 1987)
She also maintained a column for Hiligaynon called “Indi Mapatihan apang Matuod” (Unbelievable but true) in Yuhum. This is a series of true-to-life stories about extraordinary and paranormal experiences of ordinary people she interviewed. Kapawa, Balangaw, Ani (Cultural Center of the Philippines), and SanAg (Fray de Leon Creative Writing Institute)
In 1990 Maria Luisa started to write a column for Hiligaynon titled “Sa Aton Puluy-an” (In Our Home). Here, she has been writing short essays about day-to-day living like cooking, studying, gardening, health issues, religion and sometimes politics.
In an interview in the summer of 2003, Maria Luisa estimated the number of her works: more or less 1,000 short stories and more or less 676 essays.
Maria Luisa had also published children’s literature in English and Filipino in national publications like Paslit and The Philippine Journal of Education. She had also poems published in HomeLife Magazine (1995-1997 and 1998). A poem of hers was included in Patubas: An Anthology of West Visayan Poetry, a groundbreaking anthology edited by Leoncio P. Deriada published in 1995 by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
Her stories were also included in book-form journals like Ang Kapawa, Balangaw, Ani (Cultural Center of the Philippines), and SanAg (Fray de Leon Creative Writing Institute)
| sample of her work. |