Gregorio C. Brillantes
Gregorio C. Brillantes, a Palanca Award Hall of Famer and a multi-awarded fiction writer, is one of the Philippines' most popular writers in English. Known for his sophisticated and elegant style, he has been compared to James Joyce. He often writes about individuals under thirty, adolescent or post adolescent ones who struggle with alienation from family, society and from themselves. His earlier collection of short stories earned him the title of the "Catholic Writer". But elements of the fantastic also come in his works. In the "2006 Graphic/Fiction Awards", the main local sponsor of the  contest, specialty book shop "Fully Booked", acknowledged Brillantes as one of the godfathers of fantastic literature in English by naming the first category the "Gregorio C. Brillantes Prize for Prose". Brillantes is a native of Camiling, Tarlac. He obtained his Litt. B. degree in the Ateneo de Manila University. He has edited "Sunburst", "The Manila Review", "Focus", "Asia-Philippines Leader" and the "Philippines Free Press". Among his published collections of short stories are: "The Distance to Andromeda and Other Stories", "The Apollo Centennial", "Help", and "On a Clear Day in November Shortly Before the Millennium", "Stories for a Quarter Century . He also has published collections of essays: Looking for Rizal in Madrid", "Chronicles of Interesting Times", and "The Cardinal's Sins, the General's Cross, the Martyr's Testimony and other Affirmations". He acted as one of the judges of the Philippine Graphic Novel Awards in 2007. Lovely