'Both Critical and Compassionate': Artists Pay Tribute to Filipina Poet and Author Marra Lanot

Award-winning writer Marra PL. Lanot passed away on August 16 at 6:45 p.m., after a prolonged hospital stay, according to a statement by her family. She is survived by her husband, Jose "Pete" Lacaba, son Kris, three grandchildren, and her siblings Pfootsy and Xyrus.

"She will always be remembered for her kindness, generosity, and sheer love for life. If she loved you, you would know it for sure—she wasn't the type to hide it," they said. "Thank you very much for being a part of her beautiful life."

And what a beautiful life she lived, most of it remembered by friends, writers, and artists days after her passing.

Jose Wendell Capili III, professor of literature at the University of the Philippines, narrated how his aunt got her name:

"Few knew she was my aunt. My paternal grandfather, Brigido Tamayo Capili, and her mother, Gloria Licad Lanot, were cousins from San Antonio, Lubao, Pampanga. Tita Marra was born in Sampaloc on land my grandfather owned at the corner of Don Quijote and Pi y Margal, just beyond the walls of UST. My father’s half-sister, Tita Puring, once explained how the child received her name. She arrived during the Japanese occupation, when milk and medicine had vanished. From the Hebrew root, מַר (mar), and its feminine or descriptive form, מָרָה (mara),—denoting bitterness and things dealt in grief—she was named for that absolute scarcity, surviving on the very harshness that defined her arrival."

The rest of Capili's story revealed how it was only in his second year of teaching that he got to meet his Tita Marra, who "drew [him] into something larger." He added: " What began as a familial reunion quietly grew into an apprenticeship."

The University of the Philippines Press talked about her legacy:

"Nag-iwan siya sa atin ng mga koleksiyon ng mga tulang isinulat sa tatlong wika—Ingles, Filipino, at Espanyol—at nagsatalinghaga ng tinig, pananaw, at kasaysayan ng kababaihan. Sumulat siya ng mga sanaysay na nagpakilala sa mga natatanging Filipino sa larangan ng kultura, sining, at politika. Naging kasamang editor siya ng mga antolohiya ng mga panulat ng kababaihan at panitikan ng protesta. Bilang mamamahayag, bukod sa pagiging kolumnista, tiniyak din niya na may natatanging puwang ang mga malikhaing akda sa mga diyaryo at magazine upang lalong ilapit ang panitikan sa madla. Naglingkod siya sa mga institusyong pangkultura at naging kasamang tagapagtatag ng mga organisasyong pangkababaihan."

Lanot was a graduate of the University of the Philippines Diliman, where she also taught literature, creative writing, and film.

Exploding Galaxies, an independent publisher that reprints Philippine classics, recalled that "she was both critical and compassionate in her writing, which often reflected on women’s experiences and political issues."

While Gantala Press, a Filipina feminist small press based in Quezon City, wrote:

"Pasasalamat at pagpupugay kay Ma’am Marra PL. Lanot sa kanyang panulat na patuloy na nagbubukas ng landas para sa mga bagong henerasyon ng kababaihang manunulat at umaakay sa kanila tungo sa feminismo.

Naging mapalad kaming makasama si Ma’am Marra sa ilang pagkakataon—sa kanyang pagbibigay ng mga pambungad at kritikal na sanaysay sa mga aklat ng Gantala, at sa pagbabahagi ng kanyang mga tula sa Pagkat Tayo Man ay Sampaga: New Philippine Writing and Translation for a Free Palestine. Sa kanyang mga salita at pakikiisa, naging bahagi siya ng patuloy na paglikha ng espasyo para sa mga tinig, karanasan, at pakikibaka ng kababaihan."

Gantala Press also shared Lanot's contributed piece, "A Letter to my One-Year-Old Daughter," which may be one of her last poems before her death.

For singer Cooky Chua, best known as the vocalist of Color It Red, it was an honor to put music and record Lanot's words to "From the Other Side of the Sea."

Writer Adam David looked back at how Lanot opened his eyes to the many possibilities of art:

"Nung panahon na may reaksiyon pa ako na “puwede pala yun?” sa mga binabasa, isa si Marra Lanot sa mga unang nabasa ko na nagbigay sa akin ng ganung reaksyon. Puwede pala magsulat nang ganung paraan tungkol sa ganung bagay? Ang una kong nakitang akda niya ay kasama sa isang piyesa ni Imelda Cajipe Endaya na plantsa at kabayo at torso ng manikin. Puwede pala yun? Possibilities! Napakahalagang konsepto para sa mga batang manunulat, paano pa sa mga batang babaeng manunulat, ano. Kayraming ambag sa panitikan ni Ma’am Marra. Tunay na alamat!"

Photojournalist Lito C. Ocampo shared photographs of Lanot in attendance at the Nick Joaquin Literary Awards (NJLA) in August 2025. NJLA is run by the Philippines Graphic, where Lanot served as Literary Editor. She has also held positions at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Movie and Television Rating and Classification Board, and the Palanca Awards' panel of judges.

Ninotchka Rosca, author of the 1988 novel State of War, talked about a moment with the fellow writer in 1986. "I was in my mid-teens when I met Marra Lanot. And at this moment, I'm in full anxiety over what to say about the time between then and now, at her passing," she said.

Others shared more poems from Lanot, who wrote poetry in Filipino, English, and Spanish. She has published several books, including five collections of poetry, three collections of profiles, and a book of essays, in addition to co-writing several teleplays. Her first collection of poetry, Sheaves of Things Burning, won second prize in poetry at the 1967 Palanca Awards.

The family of Marra Lanot requested that images, videos, tributes, and essays about her be uploaded to this Google Drive.

She has also published her piece, "Liberation and Exploitation: On Sex Flicks and the Filipino, Before, During, and After Martial Law," in the September 2012 issue of Esquire Philippines.