The Authors, Creatives, and Publishers of the Philippine Delegation

Fran Alvarez is an award-winning illustrator from the Philippines who is focused on children’s literature, editorial, and brand projects. She is a part of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK), the Philippines’ first and only organization for children’s illustrators, and also works as a graphic designer at the boutique design studio Studio Dialogo. Her recognitions include the Ezra Jack Keats Award Illustrator Honor and the ALA Schneider Family Book Award Honor for Dancing Hands: A Story of Friendship in Filipino Sign Language, the Green Island Award at the Nami Concours for Fishing with Jin, and the National Children’s Book Awards-Best Reads for Hating Kapatid.

Dante Francis M. Ang II is the Chair of the National Book Development Board. He also heads The Manila Times, one of the most highly respected national daily newspapers in the Philippines. The Times is a multi-awarded newspaper and is the oldest in the country, having been founded in October 1898. Under Dante’s leadership, The Times has won numerous awards and citations, one of the latest of which was the “Newspaper of the Year” award for 2016 given by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) at a ceremony in Malacañang Palace.

Charisse Aquino-Tugade is the Executive Director of the National Book Development Board (NBDB), a cultural worker, primary mover for CulturAid, founder of The Manila Collectible Co., and founding Director of Museo ng Muntinlupa.

With interdisciplinary experience that spans the public and private sector, she creates an environment that empowers and amplifies voices, connecting communities and organizations that otherwise might not cross paths.

Jane Arguelles is the owner and general manager of Grana Books, a small press known for publishing challenging and exciting literary works. She has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and brand development across the hospitality, wellness, and publishing industries. Grana Books is a family-run enterprise that she manages alongside her husband, Mesandel V. Arguelles, a locally and internationally-published Filipino author of poetry, essays, and novels, and their daughter, Maria Rilkë Arguelles, also an author.

Yasmin Arquiza is the author and editor of more than 20 books on a wide range of environmental topics. She has worked as an international news reporter for Agence France-Presse and Associated Press, as a community journalist for Bandillo ng Palawan, and as managing editor for GMA News Online. A graduate of the University of the Philippines and the New School for Social Research in New York, she was awarded a Bellagio fellowship for the Reuters Foundation Programme at Oxford University and a Ford Foundation-International Fellowship Program scholarship at the Asian Institute of Management. She is the founder of Pawikan Press, an independent publishing house that specializes in books about the culture and environment of Mindanao and Palawan.

Michael Balili is the co-founder & co-editor of Gacha Press, a non-profit poetry publisher that promotes and encourages the reading and appreciation of contemporary poetry. Through the discovery, nurturing, and publication of both emerging and established poets with exceptional literary skills, Gacha Press strives to deliver top-notch poetry to the general audience. His first book of poems, Kaiju, was published by Ateneo de Manila University Press in 2023. He currently teaches Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

Christian Jil R. Benitez is a scholar, poet, and translator from the Philippines. He teaches at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he earned his AB-MA in Filipino literature. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Comparative Literature at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. His first book, Isang Dalumat ng Panahon (A Theory of Time; ADMU Press, 2022), received the Philippine National Book Award for literary criticism and cultural studies. His English translation of Arasahas: Poems from the Tropics is forthcoming from the Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc. and Paloma Press.

Karina Bolasco is the Curator of Books and Head of the Literary Program of the Philippines as Guest of Honour. She is past Director of the Ateneo University Press. Under her leadership from 2016, Ateneo University Press was awarded Publisher of the Year for five consecutive years: 2017-2019, in 2022 for the pandemic years 2020-2021, and this year, 2023. 48 of its titles have won National Book Awards in different categories in that period of time. Karina was hailed as one of the Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) in 1995 for her work in book publishing and literacy development. She was the 2004 Fellow for the Asia Leadership Fellow Program of the Japan Foundation and International House of Japan. She also represented the Philippines in the 2005 US-State Department International Visitor Program on Women Leadership. In November 2018, she went on a 6-month fellowship at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at the Kyoto University. She helped start Anvil Publishing, managed and grew it for 26 years (1990-2016). In that time, Anvil was Publisher of the Year 13 times and over 200 of its books won National Book Awards.

Dr. Rica Bolipata-Santos was the Director of the Ateneo University Press (AUP) from 2013-2016 and was reappointed to the position in 2023. She has been teaching with the English Department for more than 25 years now. She brings to the AUP the wealth of her experience as a writer, editor, columnist, bookseller, publisher. A seasoned university administrator, she served as Executive Director of the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings (ALIWW) from 2005 to 2013 and Director of the University Communication and Public Relations Office (UCPRO) from 2016 to 2019. She also teaches in the departments of Fine Arts, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Theology. She is bringing with her books published by the Ateneo University Press, such as Isabela, 1762, The Collaborators, The Philippines is Not a Small Country, and The Quiet Ones to the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2024.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the author and editor of over 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept (novel), Magdalena (novel), The Newspaper Widow (novel), and her Selected Short Stories. She has received an Outstanding Individual Award from Cebu, Philippines, California Arts Council Fellowship, Brody Arts Fund, several travel grants from the US Embassy, the 40th National Book Award, and the Cirilo F. Bautista Award, among others. She has taught at UCLA, USC, the Writers Program at UCLA Extension, and she continues to lecture and perform in literary arts venues and universities. She has served on the Boards of PEN USA West, PAWWA (Philippine American Women Writers and Artists), PAW (Pacific Asian American Women Writers West), and other institutions. She also runs PALH (Philippine American Literary House).

Jade Mark Capiñanes is a Palanca-winning essayist, humorist, and author of the flash fiction collection How to Grieve (Everything’s Fine, 2022). He is a member of the Davao Writers Guild and is currently writing a memoir as his MFA Creative Writing thesis at De La Salle University in Manila.

Aria Chelabian is an industrial engineer with almost two decades of experience in large-scale business operations and a strong passion for the rich history and culture of the Philippines. He is the author of the best-selling graphic novel series Ma-I, an award-winning tabletop game developer, and, along with his wife Faye Chelabian, the co-founder of Wangis Laro at Kwento Corp. (Kawangis).

Luna Sicat Cleto is a writer and teacher of Malikhaing Pagsulat (Creative Writing in Filipino). She is also an editor and member of the Literary Arts Sub-Commision of NCCA. In 2017, she co-edited Sapantaha: Mga Kuwentong Imahinatibo at Spekulatibo (UP Press) and Pag-ahon sa Hirap: Mga Kuwento ng mga Nanay (Eight Books Press).

Mara Coson is a writer based in Manila, Philippines. She is the publisher of Exploding Galaxies, a press focused on publishing out-of-print Filipino fiction, and was the co-founder of The Manila Review. Her novel, Aliasing, was published by Book Works in 2018.

Dr. Jose Y. Dalisay Jr. (Butch Dalisay to readers of his “Penman” column in the Philippine STAR) was born in Romblon, Philippines in 1954.

He has published over 40 books of his stories, plays, and essays, with seven of those books receiving the National Book Award from the Manila Critics Circle. More than 20 of his screenplays have also been produced. In 1998, he was named to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Centennial Honors List as one of the 100 most accomplished Filipino artists of the past century.

After being imprisoned during martial law for his activism, he graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1984 (AB English, cum laude), and then received an MFA from the University of Michigan (1988) and a PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1991) on a Fulbright-Hays grant. He taught English and Creative Writing as a full professor at the University of the Philippines and served as chairman of the English Department and Director of the UP Institute of Creative Writing. He retired in 2019 and was named Professor Emeritus shortly after.

Carla de Guzman is a romance author from the Philippines who writes Filipino characters set anywhere. A proud member of #RomanceClass, a collective of authors, artists, and readers of Filipino romance in English, De Guzman’s work has been published both locally and internationally by Anvil Publishing and Harlequin’s Afterglow imprint but still considers self-publishing books such as If The Dress Fits, Some Bali to Love and Blooming Love, as her home. Between writing sessions, she runs Magdamag Market Cafe with her siblings in Quezon City, and will always say yes to a cafe invite.

Julian dela Cerna is an editor at Ateneo University Press and pursuing an MA in Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. He also lectures part-time at Ateneo de Manila University on publishing, covering postcolonial English and manuscript preparation. He has been a fellow at KRITIKA and the Ateneo National Writers Workshop.

Allan Derain is the author of several books, including Iskrapbuk (UP Press), a finalist in the Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award in 2006; Aswanglaut (Ateneo de Manila University Press) which won the 40th National Book Award for Best Novel in Filipino and the Gintong Aklat Award for the same category; Ang Banal na Aklat ng mga Kumag (Cacho and Anvil) which won the Carlos Palanca Memorial Grand Prize Award in 2011, The Reader’s Choice Award in 2014, and the National Book Award also in 2014; and The Next Great Tagalog Novel at Iba pang Kuwento which won in the 39th National Book Award for Best Short Fiction Collection in Filipino. He edited the aswang anthology May Tiktik sa Bubong, May Sigbin sa Silong which won in the 37th National Book Award for Best Anthology in Filipino, and the Gintong Aklat Award. An assistant professor both in the Kagawaran ng Filipino and Fine Arts Department of Ateneo de Manila University, he teaches Creative Writing, Art Appreciation, and Philippine Literature and, for three years, served as the director of AILAP (Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices).

Ariesa Domingo is a prolific fiction author with 16 years of experience and specializes in romance and legal romance genres. Among her published works include titles with topics on Pop Fiction, Indie Pop, and has numerous self-published books. She is skilled in crafting compelling narratives that captivate readers across multiple publishing platforms. Ariesa will be taking the following books with her to Frankfurter Buchmesse 2024: No One Will Know, Eyes On Me, Baby, and Play The Game.

Bambi Eloriaga-Amago is a Philippines-based comic book writer and children’s book author. Her graphic novel Doobiedoo Asks is an Official Selection of the first-ever Philippine International Comics Festival, a finalist at the 39th National Book Awards, and a Readers’ Choice Award Recipient at the 7th National Children’s Book Awards, while her children’s book is entitled Too Loud! Soothing Sensory Overload With Music. Both books are nominees for the 2025 International Board on Books for Young People’s Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities. Bambi also currently acts as managing editor for Webtoons, a US-based publisher.