Writer Francia, 74

Writer and visual artist Hilario Francia died Wednesday at age 74. His body was found late that afternoon by his landlord in his rented apartment in New Manila, Quezon City.

Francia, who sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Nafaric de Pagsanjan, was a member of the 1960s writers’ group the Ravens, which took its name from the poem by Edgar Allan Poe.

Francia edited and designed "Ravens in Love," the third volume of works by the writers’ group that was released last year by Anvil. Another recent book was "Parliament of Giraffes," translations into Filipino of the poems of National Artist Jose Garcia Villa.

Born in Ermita, Manila in January 1929, Francia was educated in the public schools and later took up civil engineering at the UP.

His first collection of poetry, "Selected Poems," won the first prize in the Palanca awards. In 1988, he won a National Book Award from the Manila Critics Circle for translation.

But Mang Larry, as he was called by the younger generation, was also a painter of note, having exhibited in a number of art biennials in Venice, New Delhi, Paris and Amsterdam.

He was one of those rare persons who was as good at writing as he was at painting and drawing, and his book designs had an indelible Francia imprint.

He also at various times taught part-time at UP and La Salle.

A loner to the end, Francia valued his solitude more than anything, perhaps because he found the space necessary to create art.

A nephew, Luigi Francia, writes a weekly column out of New York for a local Sunday magazine.

Mang Larry’s remains were cremated yesterday, and his ashes are at Pinaglabanan Church in San Juan for a two-night wake ending tonight with a tribute by his fellow Ravens Adrian Cristobal, Virginia Moreno, Armando Bonifacio, Raul Ingles, with Nick Joaquin, Celina Cristobal and the Unyon ng Manunulat ng Pilipinas.