Dante A. Rosales is a poet, coffee-table book writer, and visual artist. A graduate of AB Economics from San Beda College, he was the editor-in-chief of The Bedan in the 1980s, eventually building a career in government as an information officer, presidential staff officer, and, at present, administrative officer in the Office of the Mayor in Calbayog City. He has been a panelist in workshops held in Northwestern Samar State University and UP Visayas and is currently a member of the KATIG writers' group and Calbayog Literary Arts Organization.
Voltaire Q. Oyzon teaches Social Science & Literature at the Leyte Normal University. He was a writing fellow at the VisWrite, Faigao, Iligan, and UP writing workshops. He has published a poetry collection in Waray, An Maupay ha mga Waray (NCCA 2008). Currently, he is working on his second book tentatively entitled Mga Bukad han mga Bangin (Buds of Maybes).
Janis Claire B. Salvacion finished her BA Communication Arts, Major in Literature from the University of the Philippines in the Visayas Tacloban College. She was a Fellow in the 4th Visayas Creative Writing Workshop and the 10th Iligan National Writers Workshop, where she won the Jimmy Y. Balaquit Literary Award for Poetry. Her collection of poems, Siso Sakradang ug iba pa nga mga Siday han Tagoangkan, was included in the Ubod New Authors Series II, published in 2010 by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices (AILAP). Very recently, she was adjudged winner of NCCA Writers Prize 2011 for the Poetry Category, Waray language.
Jethol C. Paanod is a teacher of English, communication, and literature at the Naval State University in Naval, Biliran. He developed his love for writing and literature during his college days in the University of the Philippines in the Visayas Tacloban College where he studied AB Communication Arts. A writing fellow at VisWrite, UP Vis-Min Panagsugat, and Iligan, he writes poetry, fiction, and criticism in Waray, Cebuano, and English.
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 Bathalan-ong 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).
Charmaine Carreon has been a fellow in a number of writing workshops, including the 10th IYAS and the 50th Silliman National Writers Workshop. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in the Philippines Free Press, Philippines Graphic, and Quarterly Literary Review of Singapore. Her fiction piece, “Birds,” won second place in the recent 2011 Nick Joaquin Awards. A faculty of University of the Philippines Cebu, she is completing her graduate studies in M.A. Creative Writing (Poetry) at the UP Diliman.
F. Jordan Carnice graduated in 2009 with a degree in creative writing at Silliman University, Dumaguete City. His works have been printed in The Weekly Sillimanian, Dark Blue Southern Seas, Metro Post, Home Life, Paper Monster Press, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines Graphic, Philippines Free Press, and Under the Storm: An Anthology of Contemporary Philippine Poetry. He was a fellow in the 47th Silliman and the 15th Iligan National Writers Workshops, and the 10th IYAS Creative Writing Workshop in Bacolod. He currently works as a corporate communications senior specialist in a food company.
Reigh P. Monreal, who is currently the president of the Bohol Society of Tourism Officers, finished Agriculture at the Visayas State University in Leyte and law from the University of San Jose Recoletos in Cebu. He also took up journalism and media management at the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication; photography and science journalism at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños; and development communication at Iowa State University as a scholar of the US government. He has worked with various foreign-funded development projects in the Philippines since 1981. An active member of the Literature Division of the Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage (Bach) Council, his accomplishments include organizing the Leyte-based church choir ViSCA Polyphonics, editing and writing articles for such publications as Tubod: The Heart of Bohol, and receiving the 2011 President Carlos P. Garcia Award for Cultural Advocacy.
Elsed Togonon is a Language and Literature teacher at the University of San Agustin, Iloilo City and a member of Dagyang Pulong, a group of young Western Visayan writers. He has been a product of creative writing workshops like the Fray Luis de Leon Creative Writing Institute of the University of San Agustin and the 10th Iyas Creative Writing Workshop sponsored by the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts. His poems and short stories are published in SanAg and Panay News. Currently, Mr. Togonon takes his M.A. in English and Literature at the West Visayas State University and recently reestablished the Mirror Poetry Guild (MPG), a student group pioneered by notable poets and writers in Western Visayas.
Noel G. de Leon is a poet who writes in Hiligaynon and Filipino. He is a Communication Arts graduate. Originally from the Island of Guimaras, he is currently completing an M.A. Ed. in Filipino at the University of the Philippines-Visayas, Iloilo City. He is a member of the writers group Mirror Poetry Guild (MPG).
Marcel Milliam is a poet finishing his Bachelor of Laws Degree. His was published in the 33rd Ani by the CCP, Estilo Ilonggo Coffee Table Book and in SanAg, the Lit Folio of the USA Fray Luis De Leon Writing Desk. He won the Meritage Press Global Poetry Prize in 2008, the Gawad Komisyon Ng Wika for Binalaybay and two Palanca Awards. He received fellowships from University of San Agustin, UP Vis-Min Panagsugat, MSU-IIT Iligan INWW and USLS Iyas Workshop. He was Chair for Literary Arts of the Capiz Arts Council, founding Chair for Yanggaw: The Capiz Writer's Circle, President, Capiz Youth Artist's Network, Magdaloni for Dagyang-Pulong Iloilo and is an active member of Mirror Poetry Guild (MPG). He also does free-lance theater acting and conducts workshops in theater and creative writing.
Chuvic Monserate graduated from the University of St. La Salle- Bacolod in March 2010. She is currently teaching in the pioneer high school of Brgy. Gatuslao, Candoni, a remote barrio in Negros Occidental. She was a fellow in Binalaybay in the 11th Iyas Creative Writing Workshop.
