Elsa
Martinez Coscolluela was Vice
President for Academic Affairs at the University of St. La Salle, and retired
in 2010 after 32 years of service. Upon
retirement, she was conferred the rank of Professor Emeritus and was designated
Special Assistant to the President for Special Projects, a post that she
continues to hold. During her term as
VPA, she founded the Negros Summer Workshops with film Director Peque Gallaga in
1990, and the IYAS Creative Writing Workshop in 2000, in collaboration with Dr.
Cirilo Bautista, Dr. Marjorie Evasco and the Bienvenido N. Santos Creative
Writing Center of De La Salle University, Manila. She writes poetry, fiction,
drama, and film scripts in English. She has published a book of poetry, Katipunera
and Other Poems. Several of
her works have been anthologized. As a
writer, she is best known for her full length play, In
My Father’s House, which has
been produced here and in Japan, Singapore, San Francisco and New York. She was inducted to the Palanca Hall of Fame
in 1999 and is the recipient of several awards from the CCP, Free Press, and
the Philippine Centennial Literary Competition.
She continues to work at the University of St. La Salle where she
manages several special projects and directs projects for the Eduardo Cojuangco
Foundation.
Elsa Martinez Coscolluela was married to the late
Jose Orlando Coscolluela of Bacolod City, with whom she has 3 sons: Bumpy,
Johnny and Jacko—and 4 grandsons: Joco, Iñigo, Santi and Quinan.
Isidoro Cruz is the
incoming NCCA NCLA coordinator for West Visayas; Ph.D. in Literature, De
La Salle University- Manila; full professor and Dean, College of Arts and
Sciences, University of San Agustin- Iloilo; winner of a National Book Award
for Literary Criticism, 2004 and 2010, as well as the Palanca first prize for
poetry in 2003.
Phil Harold L. Mercurio is the author of the book on Waray poetry entitled Ayaw Pagpudla an
Tuog ug iba pa nga mga Siday (2010) published by the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Ateneo –AILAPA under the Ubod II New
Authors Series. As a writer, he humbly claims that he is a product of the
Iligan National Writers Workshop (INWW) and the UP Visayas Creative Writing
Program (UP VisWrite) in UP Tacloban where he took his AB Communication Arts
major in Literature and Communication Research. His cultural work is
exemplified being a convenor of the Lamiraw Creative Writing Workshop (2004) in
Samar and co-founder of three writers organizations in Eastern Visayas: CALAO
Writers Inc., ALAG Writers Inc., and Katig Writers Network Inc. He is a faculty
member at the Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU) in Calbayog City where
he teaches English, Literature, Development Communication and Translation. He
sits at the executive council of the National Committee on Literary Arts
(2011-2013) representing Eastern Visayas.
Janis Claire Salvacion Canta is a Waray poet. Her collection of poems, Siso
Sakradang, was included in the Ubod New Authors Series published in 2010 by the
Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices and the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts. In 2011, she was awarded the NCCA Writer’s Prize for
Poetry in Waray language. She was recently elected as incoming Regional
Coordinator, Eastern Visayas area for the NCCA’s National Committee on Literary
Arts.
Hope Sabanpan Yu is the director of the Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San
Carlos. She earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of
the Philippines (Diliman) and her MA in English from the University of Calgary
(Canada). She teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in literature,
creative non-fiction, theory and criticism. An advocate for the promotion and preservation
of Cebuano culture and heritage, she served as Central Visayas coordinator of
the National Committee on Literary Arts from 2008-2011. She is current
secretary of the Women Studies Association of the Philippines (WSAP) and holds
membership in local organizations like Bathalanong Halad sa Dagang (Bathalad)
and international organizations such as the Modern Language Association (MLA),
Association of Asian Studies (AAS), PEN America, PEN Canada, and Motherhood
Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI).
Jona Branzuela Bering scales mountains, treks rivers, combs beaches, hops towns, takes
photographs, and, yes, searches for stories, stanzas, and silence. Her short
story "Tubod" won first in 63rd Palanca awards in Cebuano
category. She is a member of WILA and Bathalad, Inc.—the established
literary circles in Cebu, but she often hangs out with the Nomads—a loose
group of young writers. For now, she travels to write and maintains a column
"Down South" on Interaksyon.com
Agnes Espano-Dimzon teaches
creative writing and Hiligaynon literature in high school in Iloilo City. Presently, she is also involved in the
translation and editing of the Sugidanon (Epics of Panay) for publication by
the UP Press.
Jeremy Alexandre O. Evardone is a college droupout from the University of
Eastern Philippines. He is now a
government employee in his hometown of Palapag, Northern Samar where he lives
with his wife and two children. His
family operates a small multimedia products and services business. He has been
a writer and a cultural worker for the last thirteen years. His favorite sports include mountaineering
and mixed martial arts.
Maria
Tangcay Jumawan
is a professor of a state college who is guided by the concept that the true
success and happiness in life is in helping and loving other people. She
believes that she has to do the best that she could to grow
professionally. She has to read, write,
research and share ideas for the greatest good of the greatest number. Whatever
can be done for the total human development of individuals through love has to
be done. We will not pass this way again, she maintains, so, the goodness of
the heart which radiates more is her star in every endeavor.
Jaizer Jim Nadal studies at Silliman University. Writes short stories and poetry. Will play music for food.
Rene
Ponte
studied accounting and ended up operating an arts and sign shop, after a stint
with a band that recorded novelty songs failed to prosper due to the
proclamation of Martial Law. He was into
printing, commercial arts, photography and video when the late Clovis Nazareno
(writer, poet, Palanca awardee) asked him to print his first booklet of poems,
"For My Friends." Rene showed
Clovis some of his literary tries when he was in high school, who in turn
submitted the raw manuscripts to the Silliman University Summer Writers
Workshop and earned for Rene a fellowship.
That started his literary writing. He then found himself working for a
newspaper outfit as layout artist and editor-in-chief, both in the English and
Bisaya publications. Currently, aside from managing a printing press, he is
concentrating on doing oil paintings. He also writes more in Sugbuanon
Binisaya, but then there always is the itch to write in English.
Nikos H. Primavera finished his
BA Sociology-Management at UP Visayas but was waiting for his BFP (Bureau of
Fire Protection) application to be approved when he took up law. Enamored
with the blindfolded woman, or her sword, or the scale she holds, He didn't
follow up on becoming a fireman, the profession with plenty of time to write,
when his foot was already inside the door. He failed the bar exam once,
never took a shot again at the trophy that isn't him to dust, and found his way
back to the provoking, written path.
Victor N. Sugbo lives in Tacloban City. He writes poetry in English and Waray. His
poems in English have been published in national periodicals and anthologies,
and poetry journals abroad. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the U.P.
College of Mass Communication and teaches Communication and Literature at
the U.P. Visayas Tacloban College. His poetry in English won
first prize in the Lillian Jerome Thornton International Competition in
Poetry in 1997. His poetry in Waray have won him recognition from the City of
Tacloban, Maharlika, and the 2013 Taboan Writers Festival.
Fundador Gamboa Tipon II is a freelance acting and declamation coach, stage and events
director, actor and playwright based in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.
He was a Commerce-Management Accounting graduate and Corps d’ Elite Outstanding
Student of University of St. La Salle and a Secondary Education in Mathematics
supplemental graduate of West Negros University who has explored into finance,
audit, and marketing career fields. Endowed with an intensive theater
training and experience since 1994, he has been affiliated with USLS Maskara
Theatre Ensemble, Diocesan Commission on Youth, The Performance Laboratory, and
NCCA-Committee on Dramatic Arts. He was a 2012 Iyas Creative Writing Workshop
fellow and an Iyas Literary Awardee for his Hiligaynon plays “Emo Trip” and
“Palad” for 2012 and 2013, respectively. His other staged works include
“Ang Kalbaryo sang Krus,” “Baler: Por La Sangre,” “Waxworks” haunted
interactive performance series, “Ang Balaan Nga Krus,” and “Café Specials”
romantic comedy series.
Michael Carlo C. Villas teaches language, literature, and communication at the Leyte Normal
University. He has presented papers in local and international conferences. He is a also a poet. His poems have been
featured in the Philippines Free Press, Corpus, Asia Literary Review, and Under the Storm: An Anthology of Contemporary
Philippine Poetry. His research interests are Waray literature, Philippine Literature in
English, translation studies, English language teaching, language policy and
planning, and mother tongue education.
