Fictionalizing Time

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.

Among his literary distinctions, he has won 16 Carlos Palanca Awards in five genres (entering the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2000), five Cultural Center of the Philippines awards for playwriting, and Famas, Urian, Star and Catholic Film awards and citations for his screenplays. He was named one of The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of 1993 for his creative writing by the Philippine Jaycees. In 2005, he was given the Premio Cervara di Roma in Italy for his literary achievements. In 2007, his second novel, Soledad’s Sister, was shortlisted for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize in Hong Kong; his novels have been translated into and published in Italian, Spanish, French, German, and US editions.

Robin Sebolino is currently an instructor at the University of Asia and the Pacific. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Literature from De La Salle University-Manila and his master’s in Writing and Performing and Publishing at the University of Leeds in England. He is a novelist and a textbook co-author.

In his more than a decade of service in the field of education, he has taught students in debate and public speaking organizations who have won championships in local and international tournaments. As a fictionist, he has written short stories published in foreign magazines and anthologies, in which he developed narratives inspired by Southeast Asian mythology. He won several awards and recognitions through his writing endeavors, including several honorable mention placements in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contests and earning a Seal of Approval from the Catholic Writer’s Guild for his historical novel Vassals of the Valley.

He currently leads Plaza Books in fulfilling a project to publish and promote manuscripts that advocate traditional Philippine values. In reference to such values, the organization specifically refers to the country’s mestizo (mixed) heritage, in which Hispanic, Chinese, and Austronesian cultures have merged—and continue to merge—in shaping Philippine society. Plaza Books will primarily publish works in English, but the organization hopes to have them translated into Spanish, Chinese, and other Southeast Asian languages to further communicate the multicultural ideas it aims to celebrate.