What is the 21st Century Literature?

21st Century Literature is defined as all literary works written and published at the latter part of the 21st
century (from 2001 onwards). These works are often characterized as gender sensitive, technologically alluding,
culturally pluralistic, operates on the extreme reality or extreme fiction, and questions conventions and supposedly
absolute norms.
Major Genres of the 21st Century Literature

1. Poetry refers to those expressions in verse, with measure and rhyme, line and stanza and has a more melodious
tone.
Example:
 Pag-aabang sa Kundiman: Isang Tulambuhay by Edgar Calabia Samar
2. Drama is a type of literature that is written for the purpose of being performed in front of
an audience. This type of writing is written in the form of a script, and the story is told
through the lines of the characters played by actors.
Example:

3. Creative nonfiction
It’s a rich mix of flavors, ideas, and techniques, some of which are newly invented and others as old as
writing itself. Creative nonfiction can be an essay, a journal article, a research paper, a memoir, or a
poem; it can be personal or not, or it can be all of these.
Examples:
 “The Cardinal’s Sins, the General’s Cross, the Martyr’s Testimony, and Other Affirmations” by Gregorio
C. Brillantes
 “Manananggal Terrorizes Manila and Other Stories” by Jessica Zafra
 “Sapay Koma” by Jhoanna Lynn Cruz
4. Blogs (shortening of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational website displaying information in the
reverse chronological order, with latest posts appearing first. It is a platform where a writer or even a
group of writers share their views on an individual subject.
5. Mobile phone text tula is a group ogf words that uses mobile gadgets. It is also more like a tanaga. It consist
four lines and seven syllables, and every ending of lines has a rhyme word.
Example:

6. Chick Lit is a story that is usually posted online by a budding (usually female) author on sites such as
fictionpress. They are usually romantic, dramatic, and funny.
Examples:
 Spotlight New Adult by Mina V. Esguerra
 Tall Story by Candy Gourlay
 All’s Fair in Blog and War by Chrissie Peria
7. Speculative Fiction
It covers all stories from fantasy to science fiction to slipstream to magic realism to urban fantasy. In
other words (or in other worlds), it encompasses all the stories that are removed from the reality that we
are currently living in. As the introduction states, “speculative fiction is a type of story that deals with
observations of the human condition but offers the experience through a different lens…and challenges
us to see what tomorrow could be like or what the mythic past of our imagination actually is.”
 Example:
 Smaller and Smaller Circles by FH Batacan
 Sink by Isabel Yap
 The Secret Origin of Spin-Man by Andrew Drilon
8. Flash Fiction
Flash fiction goes by many names, including microfiction, microstories, short-shorts, short short stories,
very short stories, sudden fiction, postcard fiction and nanofiction.
Examples:
 100 Kislap, by Abdon M. Balde Jr.
 Karapote: Antolohia Dagiti 13 a Nasuerte A Sarita, by Ariel S. Tabag
9. Graphic Novels
Graphic novels can be fiction, non-fiction, history, fantasy, or anything in-between.
Graphic novels are similar to comic books because they use sequential art to tell a story. Unlike comic
books, graphic novels are generally stand-alone stories with more complex plots. Collections of short stories
that have been previously published as individual comic books are also considered graphic novels.
Examples:
 The Mythology Class (Nautilus comics) by Arnold Arre
 Light (Anino comics) by Rob Cham
 Sixty Six (Anino comics) by Russell Molina
 Maktan 1521 by Tepai Pascual