Joselito delos reyes biography for kids video

Before venturing into the vast world of literature, Delos Reyes was first an avid reader and a self-taught comedian. His interest in both literature and humor developed during his high school years.

Biography of esteemed poet, Teo Antonio won for him the National Book Awards for Nonfiction.

Seated on his office desk with his dimpled smile never leaving his face, Delos Reyes recalls how reading the works of literary giants such as F. Sionil Jose and Carlos Bulosan emboldened him to begin writing his own masterpieces. Hindi pupwedeng ako lang. Dapat magsulat din ako. Gusto kong magsulat din, gusto ko ring makapagpabago. The Literature professor shares that his interest in humor, on the other hand, was piqued by his cousin, whose impeccable sense of humor that could command the attention of a room compensated for his lack of good looks.

Makikinig kayo sa kanya kasi ang lakas-lakas noong kanyang sense of humor. He then began to study humor intensively, devouring one joke book after another until he knew hundreds of wisecracks by heart. In no time, he graduated from joke book humor to contextual jokes which would later on become his trademark as a writer. What started out as mere curiosities for the young Jowie eventually evolved into lifelong passions.

He continued penning literary works at his own pleasure, occasionally injecting them with humor, not knowing that these would lead him to another pursuit.

Delos Reyes of RCCAH, CCWLS, AB lectures on responsible use of social media.

Aside from being an aspiring litterateur who dreamt of becoming the Filipino Bill Bryson—a humor creative non-fiction writer whom he idolized—Delos Reyes also took up Secondary Education in Social Science at the Philippine Normal University. However, he realized that teaching was not the career he wanted to pursue when he finally obtained his degree after eight years.

He instead tried jobs not related to his degree: he worked as a project manager in an information technology IT company, as a training officer in a money remittance firm, and even as an employee under a local government unit.