Issue 11 Contributors

Alfredo Roces is the Filipino artist-writer based in Sydney who has written many books on Filipino culture, history, and art, the latest of which is Adios, Patria Adorada: The Filipino as Ilustrado, the Ilustrado as Filipino (De La Salle University Press), which won the Manila Critics Circle 2006 National Book Award for Social Science. Also a publisher and editor, Roces counts among his notable book projects the encyclopedic multi-volume Filipino Heritage series (unfortunately out of print now). A former student of the artist George Grosz, Roces has exhibited his works in the Philippines and abroad.

Edd Aragon, former and famous cartoonist for the Philippine Daily Express of the Martial Law years, migrated to Sydney in the 1970s and later became editorial illustrator for the Sydney Morning Herald and has thrice bagged the prestigious Artist of the Year award from the Australian Black and White Artists Society. A painter and digital artist, Edd exhibits his works in a triple homecoming show in Manila this April. Called Tres Kantos (Three Corners), the three exhibits in separate venues feature his ultraviolet-reactive paintings, his digital artworks and his editorial cartoons.

Romulo P. Baquiran Jr is one of the leading younger poets in Filipino and has published two books of poetry, Mga Tula ng Paglusong and Onyx. A founding member of the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Arte (LIRA), the long-running poetry clinic founded by National Artist Virgilio Almario (Rio Alma), “Joey” Baquiran is also a member of the Orágon Poets, the Filipinas Institute of Translation (FIT), the Union ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL), or the Writiers Union of the Philippines. He is a literature professor at the University of the Philippines.

Teo T. Antonio finished Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas but went on to become one of the finest and most prolific poets of his generation. His many books include Biro-biro kung Sanlan (1982), Taga sa Bato (1991), Bagay-bagay (1992), Pira-priasong Bituin (1996), Kalawang sa Patalim (1998), Ornamental (1998), Karikatura at Iba Pang Kontra-Banda (2000), Piping-Dilat (2000), Sa Aking Soledad: Koleksiyon ng mga Tula sa Pag-ibig (2002), Tilad na Dalit (Mga Piling Tula: 1973-1999) (2003), and Pagsunog ng Dayami (2003). Conversant in both the traditional and modern mode of Tagalog poetry, he is considered the reigning “King of the Poetic Joust (Balagtasan).”

Roberto A. Añonuevo, as one of the recent enfant terribles of Filipino poetry, has won numerous prizes at an early age and came into his own as a writing professional as early. He was inducted into the Palanca Awards Hall of Fame in 2000 and received the SEAWRite Award from the King of Thailand in 2004. He has been editor of the defunct Filipino Magazin (FilMag), translator for Diyaryo Filipino, editor providing long critical introductions for many literatry volumes on various authors at the Ateneo de Manila University and other publishers, and now heads WikiFilipino, the Filipino version of the Philippine online encyclopedia-writing project Wikipilipinas. His three poetry books are Paghipo sa Matang-tubig (1994), Pagsiping sa Lupain (2000), and Liyab sa Alaala (2004).

Joi Barrios has a PhD in Literature from the University of the Philippines (2003) and is considered one of today’s leading feminist and activist poets and playwrights writing in both the protest mode and the fine lyric. She presently resides in the United States. Among her publications are Ang Pagiging Babae ay Pamumuhay sa Panahon ng Digma (1990), Bailaya: Mga Dula Para sa Kababaihan (1997), and Prince Charming at Iba Pang Nobelang Romantiko (2001).

Eric Gamalinda presently teaches literature in New York City and has won extensive recognition for his poetry both here and abroad. His poetry books are Fire Poems/Rain Poems (1976), Lyrics from a Dead Language (1981), Zero Gravity (1999), and Amigo Warfare (2007), while his prose works include Peripheral Vision (1992), Planet Waves (1989), Confessions of a Volcano (1990), Empire of Memory (1992), and My Sad Republic (2000), which won for him the 1998 Philippine Centennial Literary Prize. Eric is well-travelled and has enjoyed wirters’ residencies at Bellagio, Italy, Valparaiso, Spain, among others. He has also won the Asiaweek prize, CCP, Palanca and National Book Awards. Award-winning Fil-Am poet Patrict Rosal pays tribute to Eric’s poetry by saying, “I wish I didn't know Eric Gamalinda personally, then my appraisal of his two books of poems Zero Gravity and, very recently, Amigo Warfare as among the absolute best lyrics this country has seen in contemporary literature—and likely longer—could be taken more seriously.”

Jose Y. Dalisay, or Butch, is of course the Filipino novelist who made it to the short list of the Man Booker Prize Asia last year, the newspaper columnist of old pens and sundry literary issues under the title Penman, and the most prominent, most read advocate for the Apple Mac in the Philippines. A prolific writer who also started early as a reporter for various newspapers before going to several writing and teaching fellowships abroad, and whose works can be found from the printed pages to cinema, television and the theater, Butch appears here as a photographer.

Marne L. Kilates, poet, translator, and blogger, is the editor of this online magazine.