Ladlad, the Optics of Gender

Blaise Campo Gacoscos was born in Candon, Ilocos Sur, in 1968. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman. A fellow of the UP National Writers’ Summer Workshop, he won third prize at the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for his one-act play titled Taguan sa Ulan. He finished his Master of Arts in Creative Writing also in UP Diliman.

Chuckberry J. Pascual is a novelist, short story writer, and translator. He is the author of the novels Mars, Watch Out for Zombies!, Mars, Watch Out for more Zombies!, and The Vanishing Village and the short story collections including A Country of Corpses and The Vanished. He has also authored books on ethnography, literary criticism, and literary history such as Entering the Scene: The Movie Theater in Philippine Literature and a Study of Selected Movie Theaters in Recto, What is Most Important, and The Outsider in Literature. He translated into Filipino four short story collections by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo and Miguel Syjuco’s Man Asian winning novel, Ilustrado. He also co-authored a collection of one-act plays, and co-edited two anthologies of queer works. Most of his works have been finalists and winners at the National Book Awards, Gintong Aklat Awards, and National Children’s Book Awards in the following categories: Best Book of Short Fiction, Best Translated Work, Best Anthology, Best Creative Nonfiction, and Kid’s Choice.

Danton Remoto has published the following books with Penguin Random House Southeast Asia: Riverrun, A Novel; The Heart of Summer: Stories and Tales; and Boys’ Love, A Novel. He also translated three classic Tagalog novels into English: Banaag at Sikat by Lope K. Santos into Radiance and Sunrise; Mga Ibong Mandaragit by National Artist Amado V. Hernandez into The Preying Birds; and Luha ng Buwaya by Hernandez into Crocodile’s Tears.

He has worked as a radio host, TV host and Head of Research at TV5; Head of Communications at the United Nations Development Programme; Dean of Journalism and President at The Manila Times College; Head of School – English at the University of Nottingham Malaysia; and Editorial Director of the Office of Research and Publications at Ateneo de Manila University.

He took his AB and MA in Literature at Ateneo de Manila University, his MFA in Creative Writing at Miami University, his MA in Communication at Rutgers University, his MPhil in Publishing Studies at the University of Stirling in Scotland, and his PhD in English Studies at the University of the Philippines.

He was an Associate Professor of English and Communication at Ateneo de Manila University, a Professor of Journalism at The Manila Times College, and a Professor of Design Communication at Southwestern University Phinma in Cebu City.

At present, he is the Editor of the Queer imprint at Vibal Foundation and a front-page columnist of The Manila Times, where he also writes special reports on crime. He also works as a communications consultant for several private and government corporations.