Writing Through the Wounds: Filipino & Palestinian Literatures in Relational Solidarity

Dr. Nikki B. Carsi Cruz currently serves as Chair of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Ateneo de Manila University and was Editor of Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia, a Journal of the School of Humanities.  Her dissertation on Moro-Moro Theater won the Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize for Best Thesis in the Arts and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore where she completed her PhD in Southeast Asian Studies under the supervision of renowned historian Reynaldo Ileto. Her interdisciplinary research examines connections among various art forms, from vernacular literature, theater, dance, music, martial arts, and folk devotions, as well as history, politics, cultural heritage, aesthetics, peace studies, and performance studies, and spans broad periods from pre-colonial to contemporary times.

Dorian S. Merina is a poet, journalist and translator who lives in the Northern Philippines. He is the author of Di Achichúk: Poems and Images from Batanes (Ateneo de Manila University Press), winner of the 2020 Gintong Aklat Award and a finalist for the Philippines’ National Book Award, two chapbooks of poetry, Stone of the Fish, and The Changegiver, and a spoken word album, Heaven is a Second Language. His new book, yndio arxipelago, will be released by the University of the Philippines Press in late 2025.

For more than fifteen years, Merina has led a community-based project to record and document Laji, the indigenous oral poetry of Batanes. His archiving and translating efforts are open to the public at ivatanlaji.com, a digital space that also preserves the songs, testimonies and stories of elder Laji singers. He is the co-founder of the community library, Aklatan Savidug, in Sabtang, Batanes, and teaches media studies at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He is a tribal member of the Ivatan people of Batanes and is of mixed ancestry (Filipino – Irish – German). More about him at dorianmerina.com.

Genevieve L. Asenjo (b. 1979), with more than 20 years of teaching and professional writing experience, is a Full Professor of literature and creative writing and two-time Chair of the Department of Literature, De La Salle University. She is featured in the 2018 Cultural Center of the Philippines Encyclopedia of Philippine Art (Literature) for her award-winning and multi-genre works in three Philippine languages: Kinaray-a, Hiligaynon, and Filipino. She has authored three bilingual poetry and short story collections, a novel, children’s books, and staged one-act plays. She is well-anthologized locally and published internationally in English translation. Her book Ang Itim na Orkidyas ng Isla Boracay: Mga Kuwento (UP Press, 2021) won the DLSU St. Miguel Febres Cordero Research Award for Outstanding Book, and the Gerardo P. Cabochan Prize for Best Book of Short Fiction in Filipino in the 40th National Book Awards while her poetry collection Indi Natun Kinahanglan kang Duro nga Tinaga sa Atun Tunga/Hindi Natin Kailangan ng Maraming Salita sa Ating Pagitan (University of the Philippines Press, 2020) was a finalist in the same year. Her children’s book is titled Ang Buhok nga Naglimpyo kang Suba/Ang Buhok na Naglinis ng Ilog/The Hair that Cleaned A River (Alamid Publishing House, 2022), with illustration by Viel Vidal.