About Us -

"The joy of writing. The power of preserving."

About the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies

VISION

The UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (UST CCWLS) is an integral part of the University of Santo Tomas, and committed to furthering the University’s objectives as a globally recognized Catholic institution of higher learning. The UST CCWLS envisions itself as an academy of letters, dedicated to the reaffirmation of the University’s important role in the nation’s literary history through the creation of a culture of literary excellence within the Thomasian community, and through the cultivation of an awareness of the University’s rich literary traditions.

Mission

As an academy of letters, the UST CCWLS’s specific mission is to gather within itself the best literary talents among the University’s faculty members, who will serve as a support group for each other, while nurturing younger writers and literary scholars. It will also be a showcase of the University’s gifted creative writers and literary scholars. The work done by the UST CCWLS will be the University’s contribution to the continuing development of Philippine literature.

EDITORIAL BOARD

CRISTINA PANTOJA HIDALGO

Director

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CRISTINA PANTOJA HIDALGO is the Director of the UST CCWLS, and former director of the UST Publishing House. She is a fictionist, non-fictionist, critic, scholar, and author of 40 books. She has won many national literary awards, including the Gawad Francisco Balagtas for Fiction (UMPIL), the Carlos Palanca Grand Prize for the Novel, several National Book Awards (MCC and NBDB), and the UST Varsitarian’s Parangal Hagbong. She is a UP Professor Emeritus and has served as Director of the UP Creative Writing Center (now the UP Institute of Creative Writing) and of the UP Press, and as Vice President for Public Affairs of the UP System. She continues to teach creative writing and literature in the UST Graduate School and in the UP Graduate School.

RALPH SEMINO GALÁN

Assistant Director

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RALPH SEMINO GALÁN is the Assistant Director of the UST CCWLS. He is a poet, critic, translator, editor, and author of From the Major Arcana (UST), Discernments: Literary Essays, Cultural Critiques, and Book Reviews (UST), The Southern Cross and Other Poems (NCCA), and Sa Mga Pagitan ng Buhay at Iba pang Pagtutulay (UST). He has also published poems and critical essays presented nationally and internationally. He has won several national literary awards for poetry. Galán is an Associate Professor of literature, creative writing and the humanities in the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters.

AUGUSTO ANTONIO A. AGUILA

Resident Fellows and Associates

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AUGUSTO ANTONIO A. AGUILA, Executive Secretary to the UST Rector Magnificus and CCWLS Resident Fellow, is a fictionist. He is the author of The Heart of Need and Other Stories (UST) and The Carnival of Hate: Stories (UST), winner of the Gawad San Lorenzo Ruiz from the Dangal ng UST Awards. He is Professor of Literature at the UST Graduate School and the Faculty of Arts and Letters, and Academic Consultant of ABS-CBN. His short stories and literary essays have been included in various publications, like Fast Food Fiction Delivery 2 (Anvil), Mercy and Compassion: Pope Francis Blesses the Philippines (Anvil), Esquire Magazine, Philippiniana Sacra, and Leap Plus magazine. In 2018 he received the Outstanding Alumnus Award for Humanities from the UST Graduate School.

MA. AILIL B. ALVAREZ

Resident Fellows and Associates

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MA. AILIL B. ALVAREZ, Director of the UST Publishing House and CCWLS Resident Fellow, is the author of Slivers of the Sky: Catholic Literary Readings and Other Essays (UST Publishing House, 2016), which is a finalist at the 2017 National Book Awards for Literary Criticism/Literary History in English. Her critical essays and poems have been published in literary journals such as TOMÁS and Dapitan. She was a writing fellow of the UST CCWLS Summer Writing Workshop, and the UST Varsitarian J. Elizalde Navarro National Workshop for Arts Criticism. She is Assistant Professor of Literature and the Humanities in the Faculty of Arts and Letters and a Research Fellow of the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts and the Humanities.

JOYCE
ARRIOLA

Resident Fellows and Associates

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JOYCE ARRIOLA, Director of the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts and the Humanities (RCCAH) and CCWLS Resident Fellow, is a scholar and critic. She is the author of Postmodern Filming of Literature: Sources, Contexts and Adaptations (UST Publishing House, 2006), which won the National Book Award for Film/Film Criticism; and of numerous papers read in national and international conferences, and published in reputable national and international journals, including the ISI-indexed Asia Research of the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. She is a Full Professor of the UST Graduate School and the Faculty of Arts and Letters, Associate Editor of UNITAS, and has won several awards, including the Outstanding Alumni of the UST Graduate School.

PAUL ALCOSEBA CASTILLO

Resident Fellows and Associates

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PAUL ALCOSEBA CASTILLO, CCWLS Resident Fellow, is the author of the poetry collections Pananangan (LIRA) and Walang Iisang Salita (UST Publishing House). He teaches Literature and Humanities at the University of Santo Tomas where he also finished his M.A. in Creative Writing. He won First Place for Poetry in Filipino in the 2018 Palanca Awards, and has also received honors from the Talaang Ginto, Maninging Miclat Awards, and Gawad USTetika. He was a fellow of the Iligan National Writers Workshop and the UST Creative Writing Workshop, and the Palihang LIRA. His poems have been published in Ani, TOMÁS, Dapitan, and LIRA 30.

MICHAEL M.
COROZA

Resident Fellows and Associates

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MICHAEL M. COROZA, Ph.D., CCWLS Associate, is Full Professor at the Department of Filipino, School of Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University, handling graduate and undergraduate courses in Filipino Literature, Creative Writing, and Literary Translation. He has won eight major prizes in the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature for his poetry, essays, and stories for children. He received the SEAWRITE Award from the Royalty of Thailand in 2007 and the Ani ng Dangal Award from the NCCA in 2009. He was an Associate at the Nida School for Translation Studies of the Fondazione Universitaria San Pellegrino in Misano Adriatico, Italy. In 2016, he took a special post-doctoral course on the pedagogy of translation at the School of Translation and Interpretation of the University of Ottawa in Canada. Since 2012, he has held the Rev. Fr. Horacio de la Costa, SJ Endowed Professorial Chair in History and Humanities at the Loyola Schools of ADMU. He received the 2016 Rev. Henry Lee Irwin, SJ Memorial Teacher Award for the Humanities from ADMU and the 2016 TOTAL (The Outstanding Thomasian Alumni) Award for the Humanities from the University of Santo Tomas. He is concurrently the Chair of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) and the National Committee on Language and Translation of the NCCA.

NESTOR
CUARTERO

Resident Fellows and Associates

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NESTOR CUARTERO, CCWLS Associate, is a veteran journalist and university lecturer. He has published a book, At Large, At Leisure (UST Press), a collection of feature stories and essays, one of which won the grand prize in Instituto Cervantes' Premio de Periodismo in 2000. He won the La Sallian Scholarum Award for Youth and Education Issues in Journalism in 2007. He teaches under the Department of Media Studies at the University of Santo Tomas.

JOSELITO D. DELOS REYES

Resident Fellows and Associates

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JOSELITO D. DELOS REYES, Chair of the UST Department of Literature and the Humanities and CCWLS Resident Fellow, is a poet, fictionist, and essayist. He is the author of Paubaya (UST), iStatus Nation (Visprint), Titser Pangkalawakan (Visprint), Troya: 12 Kuwento (Visprint), and Finding Teo: Tula/ Talambuhay (UST). He is also a winner of the NCCA Writer’s Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award for the Essay, and the Makata ng Taon from the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino. He is an Assistant Professor of Literature and Creative Writing in the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters, and a Research Fellow of the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts and the Humanities.

NERISA DEL CARMEN GUEVARA

Resident Fellows and Associates

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NERISA DEL CARMEN GUEVARA, CCWLS Resident Fellow, is the author of Reaching Destination: Poems and the Search for Home (2004). A featured Southeast Asian performance artist, documentation of her ‘Elegies’ and ‘Infinite Gestures’ are currently in the archives of The Live Art Digital Agency (LADA) in London. Guevara has performed at Grace Exhibition Space, New York. Her works have appeared in the Asian Cha Writing the Philippines and Writing Singapore. She has upcoming work at The Comstock Review in New York.

DAWN LAURENTE MARFIL

Resident Fellows and Associates

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DAWN LAURENTE MARFIL, CCWLS Resident Fellow, is the author of Looking for Polaris: A Memoir of Losing and Finding. She graduated cum laude from UST with an AB in Literature, and earned her MA in Creative Writing from UP Diliman where she is currently working on her Ph.D. She was a fellow of the 3rd J. Elizalde Navarro National Workshop for Arts Criticism in 2011 and at the UST Creative Writing Workshop in 2012. She is an Assistant Professor at the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters and is a Research Fellow of the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts and the Humanities.

JOSE P.
MOJICA

Resident Fellows and Associates

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JOSE P. MOJICA, CCWLS Resident Fellow, obtained his B.A. in Digital Filmmaking from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and his M.A. in Creative Writing from the UST Graduate School, where he is now pursuing his Ph.D. in Literature. He was a fellow of the UST National Writers’ Workshop and Ricky Lee’s Scriptwriting Workshop. He has directed and written short films, and has composed film scores. His recent short films, Monique and E, were screened at the Ika-30th Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Vidyo, where E received an Honorable Mention during the awards night. Currently, he teaches communication and media, literature, and film theory in the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters.

NED
PARFAN

Resident Fellows and Associates

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NED PARFAN, CCWLS Resident Fellow, is the author of The Murmur Asylum (2014), a finalist for the Madrigal Gonzalez Best First Book Award, and Tilt Me and I Bend (2017), both published by the UP Press. He finished his MFA from De La Salle University and is a Ph.D. student in Creative Writing at UP Diliman. He has been published in High Chair, Kritika Kultura, Likhaan, Philippines Free Press, Sunday Inquirer Magazine, and TOMÁS, among others, and in the anthologies Crowns and Oranges, Sustaining the Archipelago, and Under the Storm. He teaches literature and humanities courses in UST and is a Research Fellow of the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts and the Humanities.

CHUCKBERRY J. PASCUAL

Resident Fellows and Associates

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CHUCKBERRY J. PASCUAL, CCWLS Resident Fellow and Coordinator of the AB Creative Writing Program, is a fictionist, essayist, critic, scholar, and translator. He is the author of Kumpisal: mga Kuwento (UST), Pagpasok sa Eksena: Ang Sinehan sa Panitikan at Pag-aaral ng Piling Sinehan sa Recto (UP), and Ang Nawawala (Visprint), and Ang Tagalabas sa Panitikan (UST). He has also authored one-act plays staged in the Virgin Labfest. He is an Assistant Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the UST Graduate School and the Faculty of Arts and Letters, and is a Research Fellow of the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts and the Humanities.

MARIA LUISA T. REYES

Resident Fellows and Associates

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MARIA LUISA T. REYES, CCWLS Resident Fellow, is Professor at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) where she is Scholar-in-Residence, and Editor-in-Chief of UNITAS. In the Ateneo de Manila University where she had been Full Professor at the English Department for many years, she is the founding editor and editor emeritus of Kritika Kultura. She is the author of Banaag at Sikat (2010), the award-winning book of literary criticism on the first socialist novel in Asia of the same title, and SipatSalin (2012), a collection of her poems and their translations in various foreign and local languages. In her international publications, her scholarly interests and publications include the exploration of the ways in which “Western” ideas and literary and critical categories have been “refunctioned” in the Philippines and other non-Western contexts. Active as a member or officer of various international organizations of scholars, she has founded an international network of scholars meeting regularly in colloquia, working together toward undertaking collaborative research and publishing co-authored works in literary and cultural studies especially on such topics as multiculturalism and diaspora.

JOHN JACK G. WIGLEY

Resident Fellows and Associates

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JOHN JACK G. WIGLEY, CCWLS Resident Fellow, is the author of five books: Falling into the Manhole (UST, 2012), Home of the Ashfall (UST, 2014), Lait Chronicles (Visprint, 2016), Lait (pa more) Chronicles (Visprint, 2017), and Hantong: Mga Kuwento (UST, 2018). He finished Ph.D. in Literature cum laude (UST), won the Best Book (Gawad San Alberto Magno) in the 15th Dangal ng UST, and was a finalist in the 13th Madrigal Gonzalez Best First Book Award. He has also co-authored a number of textbooks on literature and creative writing. A former Director of the UST Publishing House, he is an Associate Professor at the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters and a Research Fellow of the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts and the Humanities.

JOSELITO B. ZULUETA

Resident Fellows and Associates

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JOSELITO B. ZULUETA, CCWLS Resident Fellow, is an editor and editorialist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, where he also oversees the Arts and Books section. He has won the Rotary Club Award for Journalism, the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, and the National Book Award for History for The Saga of La Naval: Triumph of a People’s Faith. He is a former chairman of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, and was a juror in several film festivals, notably the Cinemalaya and Cinema One Originals. He was a Japan Foundation fellow to the 17th Tokyo International Film Festival and a British Council fellow to the Cambridge Seminar on Literature. He is also a former chairman of the National Committee on Literary Arts (NCLA) of the NCCA, current national secretary of the Philippine Center of the International PEN, and a member of the Committee on Literature Education of CHED. He teaches journalism, literature and film theory in UST and is the adviser of The Varsitarian.

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