BARBARA JANE REYES

 Born in 1971 in Manila, Philippines and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.
 Lives in Oakland, California.
 She is a poet, editor and a teacher.
 Received her undergraduate educ. At the University of California Berkely
 Received her MFA in creative writing (poetry) at San Francisco State University.
 Taught at Mills College and the University of San Francisco.
 She is an adjunct professor in the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program at University of San Francisco.
 Her work explores a variety of cultural, Historical and geographical perspectives.
POETRY COLLECTIONS:

 Gravities of Center (2003) – her first book

 Poeta en San Francisco (2005) – her second book (employs English, Spanish and Tagalog to create a
devastating portrait of her hometown.)
 Diwata (2010)
 To Love as Aswang (2015)
 Invocation to Daughters (2017)
Chapbooks

 Easter Sunday (2008)

 Cherry (2008)
 West Oakland Sutra for the AK-47 Shooter at 3:00 am and other Oakland poem (2008)
AWARDS

 Poeta en San Francisco – 2005 James Laughlin Award fron the Academy of American Poets.
 Invocation to Daughters and Diwata – finalist for the California Book Award.
CATHERINE CENIZA CHOY

 The daughter of Filipino immigrants.

 Born and raised in New York City.
 Lives in Berkeley with her husband and their two children.
 A graduate of Stuyvesant High School.
 Received her BA in History from Pomona College.
 Received her Ph.D. in History from UCLA.
 Professor of Ethnic Studies and an Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the University of California,
Berkeley.
 She taught at the University of Minnesota in American Studies.
 She is the co-editor of the Brill book series Gendering the trans-Pacific World.
BOOKS

 First book - Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History (2003).
– Award-winning book
 Second book - Global Families: A History of Asian International Adoption in America (2013).

CONCHITINA “Chingbee” R. Cruz

 Born in June 15, 1975 in Manila and raised in Tasmania.

 she finished her college education in University of the Philippines (Creative Writing Program), graduated
MAGNA CUM LAUDE and College of Arts Letters Valedictorian in 1998.
  She studied and taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she received her MFA in
Writing.
 Currently taking her Ph.D. in Suny Albany.
 She is a Filipina poet.
 Teaches creative writing and comparative literature at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.
WORKS

 (Chapbook) Disappear (2005)

 Dark Hours (2005)
 Elsewhere held and lingered (2008)
 A catalogue of clothes for sale from the closet of Christine Abella: perpetual student, ukay fan, and
compulsive traveler (2012)
 There is no emergency (2015)

AWARDS

 Second Skin - 1996 Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Poetry for “Second Skin”
 The Shortest Distance – 2001 Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Poetry
 Dark Hours – 2006 National Book Award for Poetry

GINA APOSTOL

 Born in 1963 in Manila and grew up in Tacloban.

 A Philippines-born writer based in the United States.
 Graduated from the University of the Philippines Diliman
 Earned a master’s degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University
 Currently working on a novel about the Philippine American War, William McKinley’s World.
 She has contributed to the Los Angeles Review of Books and Foreign Policy.

NOVELS

 First novel – Bibleolepsy (1997)

 Third novel – The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata (2009) – a comic historical novel-in-footnotes
about the Philippine war for independence against Spain and America in 1896.
 Insurrecto - stories of women – artists, lovers, revolutionaries, daughters finding their way to theor own
truths and histories.
 Latest novel – The Gun Dealer’s Daughter (2010) – is about a young wealthy girl who is the daughter of an
arms dealer – a character inspired by a friend from her high school years in Leyte.

AWARDS

 Bibleolypsy – won the 1998 Philippine National Book Award for Fiction
 The Gun Dealer’s Daughter – won the 2013 PEN/Open Book Award

LUALHATI BAUTISTA

 Born in Tondo, Manila on December 2, 1945.

 Graduated from Emilio Jacinto Elementary School in 1958 and from Torres High School in 1962 being one
of the brightest in her class.
 A journalism student at the Lyceum of the Philippines but dropped out because she has always wanted to
be a writer.
 Became a National fellow for fiction of the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center in 1986.
 Served as vice-president of the Screenwriters Guild of the Philippines and chair of the Kapisanan ng mga
Manunulat ng Nobelang Popular.
 Only Filipino included in a book on foremost International Women Writers published in Japan in 1991.
WORKS
Books: Novels

 GAPO (1992) – the story of a man coming to grips with life as an Amerasian.
 Dekada ’70 (1970) – the story of a family caught in the middle of the tumultuous decade of the 1970’s.
 Bata, bata. . . Pa’no Ka Ginawa? – has 32 chapters, narrates the life of Lea, a working mother and a social
activist, who has two children. The novel brazens out to the questions of how it is to be a mother, and how
a mother executes this role through modern-day concepts of parenthood.
 Bulaklak sa City Jail
 Sixty in the City
 In sisterhood (2003)
 Sonata
 Hinugot sa tadyang (non-fiction)
 Desaparesidos
Novelettes

 Sila at ang Gabi: Isang BuongLaot at Kalahati ng Daigdig (1994)

 And Babae sa Basag na Salamin (1994)
 Araw ng mga Puso
 Apat na Screenplay
 Ang Kabilang Panig ng Bakod
 Hugot sa Sinapupunan
 Desisyon
 Sumakay tayo sa buwan
Screenplays

 Sakada (1976) – exposed the plight of the Filipino peasants

 Kung Mahawi Man ang Ulap (1984)
 Bulaklak sa City Jail (1984)
 Kadenang Bulaklak
 The Maricris Sioson Story
 Nena
 Bata, bata. . . Pa’no Ka Ginawa?
 Dekada ‘70
 Gusto Ko Nang Lumigaya
 Sex object
 Isang Kabanata sa libro ng Buhay ni Leilani Cruzaldo ( tv drama)
Television scripts

 Dear Teacher
 Daga sa Timba ng Tubig
 Mama
 Pira-pirasong Pangarap
 Desaparesidos (1998)
 AWARDS

 GAPO - 1980 Palanca Award grand prize winner

 Dekada ’70 – 1983 Palanca Award
 Bata, bata. . . Pa’no Ka Ginawa? – 1984 Palanca Award
 In sisterhood (2003) – received Filipino Reader’s Choice Award Nominee for Fiction in Filipino/Taglish in
2014.
 Tatlong Kwento ng Buhay ni Juan Candelabra – 1982 Palanca Award first prize
 Buwan, Buwan, Hulugan mo Ako ng Sundang - 1983 Palanca Award third prize
 Kung Mahawi Man ang Ulap (1984) – was nominated for award s in the Film Academy of the Philippines
 Bulaklak sa City Jail (1984) – won almost all awards from various awards guilds including Star Awards
 Honored by the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings on March 10,2004 during the 8 th Annual Lecture on
Vernacular Literature by Women.
 2006 recipient of the Diwata Award for the best writer by the 16 th International Women’s Film Festival of
the UP Film Center.
JOSE DALISAY Jr.

 Born January 15,1954 in Romblon

 He is a Filipino writer.
 His pen name is Butch Dalisay
 He completed his primary education at La Salle Green Hills, Philippines in 1966 and his secondary
education at the Philippine Science High School in 1970.
 He dropped out of college to work as a newspaper writer.
 Wrote scripts mostly for Lino Brocka, the National Aritst of the Philippines for theater and Film.
 He returned to school and earned his B.A English (Imaginative Writing) degree, cum laude from UP in1988.
 He received an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in English from the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1991 as a Fulbright scholar.
 Dalisay authored more than 30 books since 1984.
WORKS
Novels

 Killing Time in a Warm Place, 1992

 Soledad’s Sister, 2008
 “Soledad: Rocambolesco Romanzo Filipino”,2009
 “In Flight: Two Novels of the Philippines”, 2011
 La Soeur de Soledad, 2013
Plays

 Madilim ang Gabi sa Laot at iba Pang mga Dula ng Ligaw na Pag-ibig, 1993
 Pagsabog ng Liwanag/Aninag, Anino, 1996
 Ang Butihing Bababe ng Timog/Mac Malicsi, TNT, 1997
Screenplays
More than 20 produced screenplays, including

 Tayong Dalawa, 1994

 Miguelito,1995
 Saranggola, 1999
Nonfiction
  The Best Barfly, 1997
 The Lavas: A Filipino Family, 1999
 Man Overboard, 2005
 “power from the Deep: The Malampaya Story”, 2005
 “Unleashing the Power of Steam: The PNOC-EDC Story”, 2006
 “Portraits of a Tangled Relationship: The Philippines and the United States”, 2008
 Wash: Only a Bookkeeper”, 2009
 “The voices of the Mountain: The People of Mt. Apo Speak”,2009
 “Decade of Reorm, Decade of Innovation: The GSIS under PGM Winston Garcia, 2001-2010”, 2010
 “builder of bridges: The Ruby Cuenca Story,”2010
Other books

 Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People, 1998

 The Filipino Flag, 2004
 “Selected Stories”, 2005
 Journeys with Light: The Vision of Jaime Zobel, 2005
 “The Knowing is in the Writing: Notes on the Practice of Fiction,” The UP Press, 2006
 “Pinoy Septych and other poems”, 2011
EILEEN TABIOS
 Born in Ilocos Sur, Philippines, 1960, and moved to the United States at the age of ten
 An award-winning Filipino-American poet, fiction writer, conceptual/visual artist, editor, anthologist, critic, and
publisher.
 She holds a B.A. in political science from Barnard College (1982) and an M.B.A. in economics and international
business from New York University Stern School of Business.
 Her last corporate career was involved with international project finance. She began to write poetry in 1995.
 Tabios has released over 50 collections of poetry, fiction, essays, and experimental biographies from publishers in
nine countries and cyberspace.
 Founder and editor of the online poetry review journal GALATEA RESURRECTS (A POETRY ENGAGEMENT).
 Tabios invented the “hay(na)ku,” a poetic form in which the first line contains one word, the second line contains
two words, and the third line contains three words, for a total of six words.

WORKS

 First book-length haybun collection, 147 MILLION ORPHANS (MMXI-MML); a collected novels
 SILK EGG; an experimental autobiography
 AGAINST MISANTHROPY; as well as two bilingual and one trilingual editions
 BEYOND LIFE SENTENCES (1998),
 I Take Thee, English
 For My Beloved (2005)
 The political and semiautobiographical The Light Sang As It Left Your Eyes: Our Autobiography (2007) - which deals
with her father’s life
 The Blind Chatelaine’s Keys: Her Biography through Your Poetics (2008),
 (Short story) Behind the Blue Canvas (2004)

collections of poetry include

 Beyond Life Sentences: Poems (1998)

 Ecstatic Mutations: Experiments in the Poetry Laboratory (2000)
 Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole (2002)
 Footnotes to Algebra: Uncollected Poems 1995–2009 (2009)
 5 Shades of Gray (2012), The Awakening (2013)
 Sun Stigmata (2014)
Invent(st)ory: Selected Catalog Poems and New 1996-2105 (2015)
  Love in a Time of Belligerence (2017)
 Murder Death Resurrection: A Poetry Generator (2018)
 Hiraeth: Tercets from the Last Archipelago (2018)

AWARDS

Her writing and editing works have received recognition through awards, grants and residencies.

 BEYOND LIFE SENTENCES (1998) - received the Philippines’ National Book Award for Poetry - translated into nine
languages.
 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award,
 The Potrero Nuevo Fund Prize,
 The Gustavus Meyers Outstanding Book Award in the Advancement of Human Rights
 Foreword Magazine Anthology of the Year Award
 Poet Magazine's Iva Mary Williams Poetry Award
 Judds Hill's Annual Poetry Prize and the Philippine American Writers & Artists’ Catalagan Award; recognition from
the Academy of American Poets
 The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association and the PEN/Open Book Committee; as well as grants from the
Witter Bynner Foundation
 National Endowment of the Arts
 The New York State Council on the Humanities
 The California Council for the Humanities
 The New York City Downtown Cultural Council.

Maria Felisa H. Batacan

 a Filipino journalist and a writer of crime and mystery fiction.

 Her work has been published in the Philippines and abroad under the name F.H. Batacan.
 She was a fellow at the 1996 Dumaguete National Writers' Workshop.
 Worked in the Philippine intelligence community and then became a broadcast journalist.
 She attended the University of the Philippines, where she pursued a master's degree in Arts Studies.
 She is finishing her second novel, the first in contemporary Kinaray-a, titled Kamatayun sa Isla Boracay.

WORKS

 (Novel) Smaller and Smaller Circles, 2002 - had been reprinted four times by the year 2006, for a total of 6,000
copies. The novel was one of the first Filipino works of crime fiction.

Awards

 Smaller and Smaller Circles - won the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature Grand Prize for the English
Novel.
 Smaller and Smaller Circles - won the 2002 Manila Critics’ Circle National Book Award and the Madrigal-Gonzales
Best First Book Award in 2003.
 Smaller and Smaller Circles - won 1st prize in the English short story category of the Philippines Free Press Literary
Awards 2008.

Genevieve L. Asenjo

 A Filipino poet, novelist, translator and literary scholar in Kinaray-a, Hiligaynon and Filipino.
 An associate Professor at De La Salle University in Manila.
 In 2010, she founded Balay Sugidanun (The House of Storytelling).
 In 2012, Asenjo participated in the International Writing Program (IWP) Fall Residency of the University of Iowa.
 In 2009, she spent six months in Seoul as Overseas Writing Fellow sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
of South Korea.

Works and Awards

(First novel) Lumbay ng Dila - received a citation for the Juan C. Laya Prize for Excellence in Fiction in a Philippine
Language in the National Book Award.
  Komposo ni Dandansoy (2007) – a collection of her Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature winning
stories in Hiligaynon with translation in Filipino.
 First book of children's stories - Mabaskog nga Hiligaynon 1, (2013) - accompanied by a teacher's guide for the
Mother Tongue curriculum in the K-12 program of the Philippine government.
 Pula ang Kulay ng Text Message (2006) - a collection of poetry in Kinaray-a with translation in Filipino
 Taga-uma@manila (National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2005) - a collection of short stories in Kinaray-a.

Bob Ong

 Born in Quezon City, Philippines

 Bob Ong is the pseudonym of a contemporary Filipino author known for using conversational writing technique to
create humorous and reflective depictions of Philippine life.
 The author's actual name and identity is unknown.
 Six of the books he has published have surpassed a quarter of a million copies. One reviewer notes (translated from
vernacular Filipino):

Bob Ong started to pursue writing after dropping out of college. His pseudonym came about when the author was
working as a web developer and a teacher, and he put up the Bobong Pinoy website in his spare time. The name roughly
translates to "Dumb Filipino," used fondly as a pejorative term."Although impressed," Bob Ong notes, "my boss would've
fired me had he known I was the one behind it." When someone contacted him after mistaking him as an actual person
named Bob Ong, his famous pseudonym was born. The site received a People's Choice Philippine Web Award for
Weird/Humor in 1998, but was taken down after former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada was ousted after the Second
People Power Revolution.

According to Nida Ramirez of Visprint Inc., which eventually became Bob Ong's publisher, the author wrote on
Bobong Pinoy that he wanted to get a book published. Ramirez, who became a fan of Bobong Pinoy.

"Filipinos really patronize Bob Ong's works because, while most of his books may have an element of comedy in them, this is
presented in a manner that replicates Filipino culture and traditions. This is likely the reason why his first book - and those
that followed it, can be considered true Pinoy classics."

WORKS
Books
 ABNKKBSNPLAko?!, Bob Ong's first book, in 2001. (Adapted into film, released in 2014 directed by Mark Meily and
produced by VIVA Films.
 Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin - shown in theaters, directed also by Meily with Chris Martinez and Andoy Ranay and
produced by VIVA Films.
 Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ng Libro ang mga Pilipino? (2002)
 Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas (2003)
 Stainless Longganisa (2005)
 56 (2018)

Fiction
 Alamat ng Gubat (2003)
 Macarthur (2007)
 Kapitan Sino (2009)
 Ang mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan (2010)
 Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin (2011)
 Si (2014)

Louie Mar Gangcuangco

 Born on March 26, 1987 in Mandaluyong City, Philippines

 He is a Novelist, Medical Doctor, HIV researcher, HIV counselor
 He finished his primary education in Montessori de San Juan (MSJ) in 1999.
 He graduated from Manila Science High School (Masci) in 2003.
 He was two years accelerated in college under the Integrated Liberal Arts and Medicine (Intarmed) curriculum of the
UP College of Medicine at the University of the Philippines Manila.
  Had his elective clerkship in Infectious Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine in UCLA.
 He trained under the Straight Internal Medicine Internship program of the Philippine General Hospital from June
2009 to April 2010.
 He received his BS in Basic Medical Sciences degree in 2007 and Doctor of Medicine degree from the UP College of
Medicine in May 2010.
 He had interests in infectious diseases (HIV) at 18 years old.
 He is considered one of the most influential authors of the Philippines.
 In 2010, Gangcuangco headed one of the largest HIV testing projects among men having sex with men in Metro
Manila.

Notable works

 Orosa-Nakpil Malate (March 2006) - It is an anthropologic exposition of the mechanics of HIV transmission in the
Philippine's gay district of Malate, Manila. Critically acclaimed for promoting HIV and AIDS awareness. It was
featured in the show Sharon (talk show) in June 2006 and was also aired internationally through The Filipino Channel
 The English version of Orosa-Nakpil, Malate was released in September 2009
 The second edition of Gee My Grades Are Terrific was published in August 2011
 Gee, My Grades Are Terrific! A Student's Guide to Academic Excellence (2008) - a self-help book for students

Awards

 Orosa-Nakpil Malate - awarded the Y Idol Award (Youth Idol Award) by Studio 23’s Y Speak. Later that month, the
Sentro ng Wikang Filipino conferred a Sertipiko ng Pagpapahalaga for Orosa-Nakpil, Malate.
 Orosa-Nakpil Malate - National Book Store Best Seller in April 2007.

KERIMA POLOTAN TUVERA

 Born on December 16, 1925 in Jolo, Sulu, she was christened Putli Kerima.
 She was a Filipino fiction writer, essayist, and journalist.
 Some of her stories were published under the pseudonym "Patricia S. Torres".
 She lived in various places and studied in the public schools of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Laguna, Nueva Ecija and Rizal.
 She graduated from the Far Eastern University Girls' High School.
 In 1944, she enrolled in the University of the Philippines School of Nursing, but the Battle of Manila put a halt to her
studies.
 In 1945, she transferred schools to Arellano University, where she attended the writing classes of Teodoro M. Locsin
and edited the first issue of the Arellano Literary Review.
 She worked with Your Magazine, This Week and the Junior Red Cross Magazine.
 In 1949, she married newsman Juan Capiendo Tuvera, a childhood friend and fellow writer, with whom she had 10
children, among them the fictionist Katrina Tuvera.
 During the years of martial law in the Philippines, she founded and edited the officially approved FOCUS Magazine,
as well as the Evening Post newspaper.
 In 1966, she published Stories, a collection of eleven stories

 In 1970, alongside writing the biography of Imelda Marcos, Polotan-Tuvera collected forty-two of her hard-hitting
essays during her years as a staff writer of the Philippines Free Press and published them under the title Author's
Circle.
 In 1976, she edited the four-volume Anthology of Don Palanca Memorial Award Winners.
 In 1977, she published another collection of thirty-five essays, Adventures in a Forgotten Country.
 In the late 1990s, the University of the Philippines Press republished all of her major works.
 Polotan-Tuvera died at 85, after a lingering illness

Works

 Short story, (the widely anthologized) The Virgin

 “The Trap” (1956)
 “The Giants” (1959)
 “The Tourists” (1960)
 “The Sounds of Sunday” (1961)
  “A Various Season” (1966)
 (Novel) The Hand of the Enemy

Awards

 The Virgin won two first prizes: of the Philippines Free Press Literary Awards and of the Palanca Awards. In 1957, she
edited an anthology for the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, with English and Tagalog prize-
winning short stories from 1951 to 1952
 Her short stories “The Trap” (1956), “The Giants” (1959), “The Tourists” (1960), “The Sounds of Sunday” (1961) and
“A Various Season” (1966) all won the first prize of the Palanca Awards.
 The 1961 Stonehill Award was bestowed on for her novel The Hand of the Enemy.
 In 1963, novel The Hand of the Enemy received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award, an award discontinued in
2003 but was then considered the government’s highest form of recognition for artists at the time.
 The city of Manila conferred on Polotan-Tuvera its Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award, in recognition of her
contributions to its intellectual and cultural life.

JESSICA ZAFRA

 Born 1965 (age 54–55)Philippines

 Writer, columnist, editor, publisher, television host, radio host
 Her work often are about current events (both Philippine and international), tennis, movies, music, cats, books,
technology, and her personal life. Her work has been the subject of academic study.
 The main ingredient to her work is often fun cynicism and irony.
 She attended Saint Theresa's College of Quezon City, Quezon City, from prep school until the 6th Grade, after which
she went to the main campus of the Philippine Science High School and then to the University of the Philippines
where she majored in comparative literature.

Books

 500 People You Meet in Hell

 Manananggal Terrorizes Manila and Other Short Stories, 1992
 Womenagerie and Other Tales from the Front, 1995
 Twisted, 1995
 Twisted II: Spawn of the Twisted, 1996
 Fruitcake, 1997 (as editor)
 Planet of the Twisted, 1998
 Chicken Pox for the Soul, 1999
 Twisted IV
 Twisted V
 Twisted 6
 Tw7sted
 Twisted 8: Night of the Living Twisted
 Twisted Flicks, 2007
 Twisted Travels
 Twisted 8½
 Twisted 9
 The word-eaters
 Jocks vs Geeks, 2014

Magazines

 Flip (as Editor-in-Chief)

CDs

 Twisted's Greatest Hits'

Television Shows

 Points of View, Studio 23

  Radio Shows Edit
 Twisted on a Sunday, 103.5 K-Lite FM

Awards

 1991 Palanca Award, 1st Place, Short Story Category for "Portents"
 1993 Palanca Award, 3rd Place, Short Story Category for "Bad Boy, Robin, Baad, Baad Boy"
 1994 Palanca Award, 3rd Place, Short Story Category for "Black"

LAKAMBINI A. SITOY

 She was born in the Philippines in 1969.

 Earned a degree in Biology from Silliman University.
 Currently teaches English at Studieskolen in Copenhagen, Denmark
 An author, journalist and teacher.
 She has an MA from Roskilde University, Denmark, in the fields of English Studies and Cultural Encounters, both
under the Department of Culture and Identity.
 As a journalist, Sitoy was a lifestyle and cultural section editor for various papers, and was a columnist and section
editor for the Manila Times.
 Sitoy was among 21 authors on the Man Asian Literary Prize's long list in 2008.

WORKS

 Sweet Haven (Anvil, 2015) published in French translation by Albin Michel as "Les filles de Sweethaven" in October
2011, in the original English by the New York Review of Books in 2014, and by Anvil Publishing Inc. in 2015
and two collections of short stories in Manila.
 Mens Rea and Other Stories was published by Anvil in 1999 and received a Manila Critics' Circle National Book Award
that same year.
 Jungle Planet was published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2006 and was shortlisted for the Manila
Critics' Circle National Book Award for that year. Sitoy was among 21 authors on the Man Asian Literary Prize's long
list in 2008. [5] The novel, Sweet Haven, was her first. It was published in French by Albin Michel in October 2011.

AWARDS

 Mens Rea and Other Stories received a Manila Critics' Circle National Book Award that same year.
 Sweet Haven received the David T.K. Wong fellowship from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
in 2003 and also received nine prizes in the annual Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards in the Philippines (1995,
1996, 1998, 2000 (2), 2001, 2005 (2), 2007 [2] as well as a Philippines Free Press Award (1994).
 She has also received writing fellowships from the National Writers' Workshop in Dumaguete (1989) and the
University of the Philippines National Writers Workshop (1990).

MARJORIE EVASCO

 Born in Maribojoc, Bohol on September 21, 1953.

 Born into a family of teachers who were "always talking English", she was brought up and educated as a Roman
Catholic and her formative years in school were spent under the tutelage of German and Belgian nuns.
 She finished her B.A. in 1973 from Divine Word College of Tagbilaran, Masteral Degree in Creative Writing in 1982 at
Silliman University.
 Doctor of Philosophy in Literature (Ph.D. Litt.) at De La Salle University-Manila.
 She became a member of the faculty at De La Salle University, while completing her doctoral degree in 1998.
 For many years, she was Director of DLSU's Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center
 Currently a University Fellow at the same university.
 An award- winning Filipino poet.
 She writes in two languages: English and Cebuano-Visayan.
 A supporter of women's rights, especially of women writers.
 She is one of the earliest Filipina feminist poets.
 She is a recipient of the S.E.A. Write Award.
 Currently working on a third poetry collection and hopes to finish it soon.
  Evasco was a founding member of two organizations espousing the cause of women writers: Writers Involved in
Creating Cultural Alternatives (WICCA) and Women in Literary Arts (WILA).
 She has written many essays on women's poetry, several of them finding their place in various anthologies.
 She is an associate fellow of the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC).

WORKS

 Dreamweavers: Selected Poems 1976-1986 (1987) - which for her was a " book of origins."
 Ochre Tones: Poems in English and Cebuano (1999) - calls this volume a " book of changes.”
 A Legacy of Light: 100 Years of Sun Life in the Philippines
 Six Women Poets: Inter/Views (co-authored, with Edna Manlapaz)
 Kung Ibig Mo: Love Poetry by Women (co-edited with Benilda Santos, A Life Shaped by Music: Andrea O. Veneracion
 The Philippine Madrigal Singers
 ANI: The Life and Art of Hermogena Borja Lungay, Boholano Painter

AWARDS

 Dreamweavers: Selected Poems 1976-1986 (1987) and Ochre Tones: Poems in English and Cebuano (1999) - prize-
winning poetry books.
 Evasco has received several Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, National Book Awards from the Manila Critics' Circle,
Arinday (Silliman University), Gintong Aklat (Book Development Association of the Philippines) and Philippine Free
Press prizes for her poems and essays.
 She has also received various international fellowships; among them, a writing fellowship at the International
Retreat for Writers in Hawthornden Castle, Midlothian, Scotland in 1991;
 a Rockefeller grant and residency in Bellagio, Italy in 1992;
 10th Vancouver International Writers' Festival in 1997;
 International Writers'Program fellowship at the University of Iowa in 2002
 University of Malaya Cultural Centre grant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2003
 The Wordfeast 1st Singapore International Literary Festival in 2004
 The Man Hong Kong Literary Festival in 2006
 The XVIII International Poetry Festival in Medellin, Colombia in 2008.

FRANCISCO SIONIL JOSE

 Born 3 December 1924, Rosales, Pangasinan, Philippine Islands.

 He is one of the most widely read Filipino writers in the English language.
 His novels and short stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles and colonialism in Filipino
 His works are written in English and have been translated into 28 languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Czech,
Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian and Dutch.
 His pen name is F. Sionil Jose.
 A Filipino novelist, writer, journalist
 Jose attended the University of Santo Tomas after World War II, but dropped out and plunged into writing and
journalism in Manila.
 He founded the Philippine branch of PEN, an international organization for writers.
 owns Solidaridad Bookshop, which is on Padre Faura Street in Ermita, Manila. The bookshop offers mostly hard-to-
find books and Filipiniana reading materials. It is said to be one of the favorite haunts of many local writers.

One of the greatest influences to José was his industrious mother who went out of her way to get him the books he
loved to read, while making sure her family did not go hungry despite poverty and landlessness. José started writing in grade
school, at the time he started reading. In the fifth grade, one of José's teachers opened the school library to her students,
which is how José managed to read the novels of José Rizal, Willa Cather’s My Antonia, Faulkner and Steinbeck. Reading
about Basilio and Crispin in Rizal's Noli Me Tangere made the young José cry, because injustice was not an alien thing to him.
When José was five years old, his grandfather who was a soldier during the Philippine revolution, had once tearfully showed
him the land their family had once tilled but was taken away by rich mestizo landlords who knew how to work the system
against illiterates like his grandfather.

José Rizal's life and writings profoundly influenced José's work. The five volume Rosales Saga, in particular, employs
and integrates themes and characters from Rizal's work. Throughout his career, José's writings espouse social justice and
change to better the lives of average Filipino families. He is one of the most critically acclaimed Filipino authors
internationally, although much underrated in his own country because of his authentic Filipino English and his anti-elite
views.

NOTABLE WORKS

 The "Rosales Saga" Novels (1962–1984) - A five-novel series that spans three centuries of Philippine history,
translated into 22 languages
 "Why we are shallow" (The Philippine STAR, sept 12, 2011) - blaming the decline of Filipino intellectual and cultural
standards on a variety of modern amenities, including media, the education system—particularly the loss of
emphasis on classic literature and the study of Greek and Latin—and the abundance and immediacy of information
on the Internet.
 (Short story) The God Stealer in 1959
 (Short story) Waywaya in 1979
 (Short story) Arbol de Fuego (Firetree) in 1980
 (Novel) Mass in 1981
 (essay) A Scenario for Philippine Resistance in 1979.
 Po-on (Source) (1984)
 The Pretenders (1962)
 My Brother, My Executioner (1973)
 Mass (December 31, 1974)
 Tree (1978)
Original novels containing the Rosales Saga
 Source (Po-on) (1993)
 Don Vicente (1980) – Tree and My Brother, My Executioner combined in one book
 The Samsons - The Pretenders and Mass combined in one book
Other novels
 Gagamba (The Spider Man) (1991)
 Viajero (1993)
 Sin (1994)
 Ben Singkol (2001)
 Ermita (1988) ISBN
 Vibora! (2007)
 Sherds (2008)
 Muse and Balikbayan: Two Plays (2008)
 Short Stories (with Introduction and Teaching Guide by Thelma B. Kintanar) (2008)
 The Feet of Juan Bacnang (2011)
Novellas
 Three Filipino Women (1992) ISBN
 Two Filipino Women (1981) ISBN
Short story collections
 The God Stealer and Other Stories (2001)
 Puppy Love and Thirteen Short Stories (March 15, 1998)
 Olvidon and Other Stories (1988)
 Platinum: Ten Filipino Stories (1983)
 Waywaya: Eleven Filipino Short Stories (1980)
 Asian PEN Anthology (as editor) (1966)
 Short Story International (SSI): Tales by the World's Great Contemporary Writers (Unabridged, Volume 13, Number
75) (co-author, 1989)
Children's books
 The Molave and The Orchid (November 2004)
Verses
 Questions (1988)
Essays and non-fiction
 In Search of the Word (De La Salle University Press, March 15, 1998)
  We Filipinos: Our Moral Malaise, Our Heroic Heritage
 Soba, Senbei and Shibuya: A Memoir of Post-War Japan
 Heroes in the Attic, Termites in the Sala: Why We are Poor (2005)
 This I Believe: Gleanings from a Life in Literature (2006)
 Literature and Liberation (co-author) (1988)

Notable awards

 National Artist of the Philippines

 Pablo Neruda Centennial Award (2004)Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres (2000)
 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts (1980)
 First award - City of Manila Award for Literature (1979)
 Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature (1959, 1979, 1980, 1981)
 Cultural Center of the Philippines Centennial Award in 1999
 The Order of Sacred Treasure (Kun Santo Zuiho Sho) in 2001

MIGUEL SYJUCO

 Miguel Augusto Gabriel J. Syjuco born on November 17, 1976, Metro Manila, Philippines
 Syjuco graduated from high school in 1993 from the Cebu International School.
 He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the Ateneo de Manila University in 2000.
 Completed his MFA from Columbia University in 2004.
 In early 2011 he completed a PhD in literature from the University of Adelaide.
 He was a fellow of the 1998 Silliman National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.
 In 2013, he was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University
 In 2014, he served as the International Writer-in-Residence at NTU, in Singapore.
 He is currently a visiting professor in the Literature and Creative Writing department at New York University Abu
Dhabi.

WORKS

 (Novel) Ilustrado

AWARDS

His novel Ilustrado won and received the following awards:

 Grand Prize for the Novel in English at the 2008 Palanca Awards.
 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize
 2010 QWF Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction
 Quebec's top literary prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book of 2010.
 Globe and Mail Top 100 of 2010
 Finalist for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize
 A finalist for the Amazon First Novel Award
 A finalist for the 2010 Grand Prix du Livre de Montreal.
 In late 2010, Ilustrado was published in translation in Spanish (Tusquets),[9] Swedish (Natur & Kultur), and Dutch
(Mouria).

In 2011, Ilustrado joined books by David Mitchell, Aleksandar Hemon, Marie NBiaye, and Wells Tower for the Premio von
Rezzori.[10] It was also among the three top finalists for the $55,000 Prix Jan Michalski,[11] an annual Swiss prize for the best
international book, as well as the Prix Courrier International, which honors the best international books translated in France.
[12]

In 2011, it was published in translation in Serbian (Geopoetika), French (Editions Christian Bourgois), Catalan (Tusquets),
Italian (Fazi), Japanese (Hakusuisha), Czech (Jota), German (Klett-Cotta), and Brazilian Portuguese (Compahnia das Letras).