Resident Writers
† Cirilo F. Bautista
A multi-awarded poet, Cirilo F. Bautista holds a D.A. in Language and Literature from De La Salle University.
He has published poetry, fiction, and criticism including Boneyard Breaking, Sugat ng Salita, The Archipelago, Telex Moon, Summer Suns, Charts, The Cave and Other Poems, Kirot ng Kataga, and Bullets and Roses: The Poetry of Amado V. Hernandez. His novel Galaw ng Asoge was published by the University of Sto. Tomas Press in 2004. His poems have appeared in major literary journals, papers, and magazines in the Philippines and in anthologies published in the United States, Japan, the Netherlands, China, Romania, Hong Kong, Germany, and Malaysia.
He is a co-founding member of the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC). Winner of the Palanca Hall of Fame Award, Bautista was hailed in 1993 as Makata ng Taon by the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino for winning the poetry contest sponsored by the government. The last part of his epic trilogy The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus, entitled Sunlight on Broken Stones, won the Centennial Prize for the Epic in 1998. He was an exchange professor in Waseda University and Ohio University. He became an Honorary Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa in 1969, and was a visiting writer at Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1987.
Isagani R. Cruz
Dr. Isagani R. Cruz holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Maryland. He is a Full Professor and University Fellow at De La Salle University where he holds the Alfredo E. Litiatco Chair in Literature. His books include Beyond Futility: The Filipino as Critic, Movie Times, Tatlong Dula Mula sa Southeast Asia, Josephine at iba pang Dula, Jaime N. Ferrer as Public Servant, Filipino para sa Pilipino, and A Dictionary of Philippine English.
Dr. Isagani R. Cruz has won twelve Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for his plays, essays, and short stories in Filipino and English. He was a SEAWRITE awardee in 1991. He has received numerous grants from Fulbright, the British Council, Japan Foundation, Toyota Foundation, and others. He has also been on the faculty of universities abroad including Ohio University, Waseda University, and Oxford University.
Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr.
“Doy” del Mundo has a doctoral degree in Communication Studies (Film) from University of Iowa. He teaches at De La Salle University, Department of Communication, where he is a Professor Emeritus and a University Fellow. He is also a screenwriter. Some of his screenplay credits are Maynila… Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag, Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, Kisapmata, Batch ’81, ‘Merika, Mulanay, Aliwan Paradise, Bayaning 3rd World, Markova, Pepot Artista, and Paglipad ng Anghel.
He is also a director in his own right. His film and video essays and documentaries include People Media, Maynila… Isang Pelikulang Pilipino, Komiks, Lupa, Pahiyas (or Exorcising the Ghosts of St. Louis), Maid in Singapore, Ehem!plo (Corruption and Integrity in the Philippines), and Tinitingnan, ‘Di Nakikita on urban poverty. In 2005, he directed Pepot Artista which won Best Picture in the 1st Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. In 2011, he premiered his second feature film, Paglipad ng Anghel, which won the Signis Award and the Fiction Film on Spirituality Award in Dhaka International Film Festival in 2012.
His books include Native Resistance: Philippine Cinema and Colonialism 1898- 1941 (1995), Spirituality and the Filipino Film (editor, 2010), Direk: Essays on Filipino Filmmakers (editor, 2019), Riding the Waves: Fifteen Years of Cinemalaya (editor, 2021). His latest book is Ang Daigdig ng mga Api: Remembering a Lost Film (2022).
In 2021, he was one of the recipients of the Gawad CCP para sa Sining.
Marjorie M. Evasco
Marjorie M. Evasco is a Full Professor at De La Salle University. She has published two books of poems entitled Dreamweavers and Ochre Tones. Her other books include A Legacy of Light: 100 Years of Sun Life in the Philippines, Six Women Poets: Inter/Views co-written with Edna Manlapaz, Kung Ibig Mo: Love Poetry by Womenco-edited with Benilda Santos and A Life Shaped by Music: Andrea O. Veneracion and the Philippine Madrigal Singers.
Her poetry has been anthologized in international publications like Frauen auf den Philippinen (Germany) and Frank(Paris). Her works have also been published in the United States, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, India and Canada. Evasco is also an award-winning prose writer, winning Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for her essays.
Evasco has received writing residency grants from the Bellagio Studies and Conference Center of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Hawthornden Castle International Writers Retreat, and was Honorary Writing Fellow in the 35th International Writing Program of the University of Iowa.
Associates
Ernesto V. Carandang II (Fiction)
Dr. Ernesto Villaluz Carandang II is a full professor of De La Salle University who teaches language and culture, Philippine Arts, Journalism, Creative Writing, and World and Philippine Literature.
His published books are Mga Kuwentong Lagalag (Stories of Wanderings, a Collection of Short Fiction; published by the National Commission for Culture and Arts Young Authors Series, 2005), Lahi ni Adan at Iba pang Kuwento (Adam’s Bloodline and Other Stories; UST Publishing House, 2007) and Angkan ni Eba (Eve’s Lineage; UST Publishing House, 2005).
He is the recipient of numerous creative writing fellowships and research grants, both internally and externally funded by DLSU. His short stories, poems, and essays have been published in the Philippines and abroad.
He is currently the editor-in chief of Luntian, an Online Literary Journal for teachers and graduate students.
He is the recipient of Dr. Pio Valenzuela Award for Literature 2019; awarded by the National Historical Commission and the local government of Valenzuela City, Manila.
He is a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University, Thailand in 2015.
Genaro R. Gojo Cruz (Children’s Literature)
Si Genaro R. Gojo Cruz ay nagtapos ng kursong BSE Major in Social Science sa Philippine Normal University at ng Masters major in Philippine Studies sa De La Salle University-Manila. Kasalukuyan niyang tinatapos ang kursong Doktor sa Pilosopiya sa Araling Filipino sa DLSU-Manila bilang isang iskolar. Nagwagi ng mga Unang Gantimpala sa mga patimpalak-pampanitikan tulad ng Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (2002 at 2009), Pambansang Gawad Ka Amado (2002 at 2003), Makata ng Taon (2004 at 2007), PBBY-Salanga Writers Prize (2016 at 2017) at Romeo Forbes Story Writing Contest (2016). Awtor siya ng mahigit 60 aklat-pambata. Kasalukuyan siyang nagtuturo sa De La Salle University-Manila at Philippine Normal University. Pangarap niyang magkaroon ng mobile library para sa mga batang Pilipino. Naniniwala siyang higit na madali ang pagtuturo ng pagbasa sa mga bata kung ito ay nakabatay sa kanilang mga kakayahan, karanasan at kultura. Sa kaniyang mga libreng oras, nagtuturo siya ng pagsulat at nagkukuwento pa rin sa mga bata lalo na sa mga pampublikong paaralan.
Mark Adrian C. Ho (Drama)
Adrian Crisostomo Ho is a former television writer for GMA-7 and TV5 and now a teacher of Literature, Art Appreciation, and Creative Writing at De La Salle University. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Simon Fraser University and completed his Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing at DLSU. He is a Palanca awardee and was a fellow in the UST, IYAS, and UP National Writers’ Workshops. His essays, poems, fiction, and plays have appeared in Rappler, Tomas, Sustaining the Archipelago: An Anthology of Philippine Ecopoetry, Narito: Essays on Place, Philippines Graphic, Montage, Unitas, and The Sunday Times. Some of his plays have also been featured in the Virgin Labfest at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. His first book, ANX, a collection of poems on anxiety, was published by the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House in 2020.
Jazmin B. Llana (Performance Studies)
Jazmin Llana is a professor of drama, theater, and performance studies at the Department of Literature, De La Salle University. In Philippine academia she has pioneered the teaching of performance studies and initiated conferences and interactions among academics and artists in the field of performance. Internationally she serves in the governing board of Performance Studies international as its current Vice President and as an associate editor of the journal Performance Research. Her volunteer engagements include work with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts as former head and now current member of the executive council of the National Committee on Dramatic Arts and as General Editor of Saliksik Kultura: The NCCA Research Journal. In 2016 she initiated and served as founding chair of the NCCA Research Program until 2020. At DLSU she has served as department chair of Literature and as dean of the College of Liberal Arts.
Clarissa V. Militante (Fiction)
Clarissa V. Militante is author of two novels, Different Countries (Anvil, 2010) and We Who Cannot Be Daughters (UST Publishing House, 2014); her third novel, State of Happiness, is soon to be published by UP Press under the Philippine Writers Series. Different Countries was long-listed in the 2009 Man Asia Literary Prize and a finalist in the 2010 UP Madrigal Gonzalez Best First Book Award. Her short story “Dream of Ruins,” written under a grant from the BNS Creative Writing Center, was recently accepted by and will be included in LIkhaan’s forthcoming DX Machina 4th issue. She currently teaches Literature and Creative Writing courses in De La Salle University where she also finished her PhD in Literature.
Timothy R. Montes (Fiction)
Timothy R. Montes grew up in Borongan, Eastern Samar. He came under the tutelage of Edilberto and Edith Tiempo during the late 1980s and early 1990s when he enrolled in the Creative Writing program of Silliman University, from which he obtained his masters degree in 1993. The Black Men, his collection of short stories, was published by Anvil in 1994; he also co-edited (with Cesar Ruiz Aquino) Tribute, a memorial anthology of stories in honor of his teacher Edilberto K. Tiempo. Tim has been a recipient of national literary awards like the Palanca, Graphic, Free Press, and the Writers Prize from the National Commission for Culture & the Arts. He started his teaching career in Silliman during the 1990s before moving on to join the faculty of the creative writing program of UP Mindanao (Davao City) during the 2000s. He is currently teaching in De La Salle University, Taft Avenue, Manila.
Carlos M. Piocos III (Poetry & Cultural Studies)
Carlos M. Piocos III is a professor of literature and cultural studies at De La Salle University. He is also the managing editor of Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance. His research interests include poetry, cultural studies, migration and mobility studies, and Southeast Asian studies. He is the author of two poetry books: Corpus (UST 2010) and Kung ang Siyudad ay Pag-ibig (UP Press 2019). As a cultural studies scholar, he has published widely on gender and transnationalism in international peer-reviewed journals and his book, Narratives, Affect and Politics of Southeast Asian Migration, was published by Routledge in 2021. He has also edited and translated from Bahasa Indonesia to Filipino an anthology of Indonesian migrant women’s fiction, Bantay Salakay sa Loob ng Aking Bahay, published by Sentro ng Wikang Filipino in 2020.
Rolando B. Tolentino (Criticism)
Roland B. Tolentino is faculty of University of the Philippines Film Institute, former dean of the UP College of Mass Communication and former director of Likhaan: UP Institute of Creative Writing where he is also a fellow. He has taught at the Osaka University, National University of Singapore, and University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include Philippine literature, popular culture, cinema and media, interfacing national and transnational issues. He writes fiction and creative non-fiction. He is the chair of the National Committee on Cinema and Commissioner for the Subcommission on the Arts of the National Committee for Culture and the Arts, and is board member of the Film Development Council of the Philippines. He is a member of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Filipino Film Critics Group), Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND-UP), and Altermidya (People’s Alternative Media Network).
Jose Victor Z. Torres (History & Drama)
A multi-awarded writer, Palanca award-winning playwright, and essayist, Dr. Jose Victor Z. Torres is an associate professor at the History Department of the De La Salle University-Manila and Associate Director for Drama and History at the Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center in the same university. He has a Ph.D. and M.A. in History from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Graduate School. A former researcher of the Intramuros Administration, his book Ciudad Murada: A Walk Through Historic Intramuros (published by Vibal Publishing) won the National Book Award for Travel Writing in 2006 and in 2017, his collection of essays To the Person Sitting in Darkness and Other Footnotes in Philippine History was awarded the National Book Award for Essays in English. He is the author and editor of books on Philippine history and culture and a contributor of articles on history and culture to local magazines and journals.