Usually, Filipino celebrities come over to Dubai to bring joy to their fellow Filipinos. It’s a totally different story when it comes to literature and the arts. At Emirates LitFest, Filipino authors are invited to speak and connect to a global audience.
From February 1-6, nine Filipino authors will join more than 250 more from around the world to showcase their work and inspire the audience at the 15th edition of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature – considered one of the world’s top 10 literary events in the world.
The 9 authors, the largest contingent ever to represent the amazing culture and literature of the Philippines, will grace 14 sessions throughout the entire week.
Here’s a list of the authors you could meet this week, and a brief info about their work – as told by Emirates LitFest:
Rissa Mananquil-Trillo
Rissa is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, model, journalist and a UN Women advocate regarded as a pioneer for homegrown beauty businesses in the Philippines.
At just 23, she became the youngest president of the Professional Models Association of the Philippines (PMAP). She co-founded Happy Skin Cosmetics, a homegrown Filipino beauty brand focused on creating skin-caring makeup products.
With Rissa at the helm, the brand won over 40 beauty awards and pioneered collaborations with global brands like Disney, Sanrio, and Havaianas, as well as with Filipina showbiz personalities like Heart Evangelista and Kathryn Bernardo.
She will be talking about building a world-class homegrown brand.
She will also be joining a panel discussion called, “Girl Bosses & Go-Getters,” to tackle what today’s working woman must face as she climbs the corporate ladder.
Rissa wrote the memoir and business guide Read My Lips: What It Takes to Build a World-Class Homegrown Brand.
Attend Rissa’s sessions | Follow Rissa
Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo
Trese creators Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo will share their journey developing the komiks and the Netflix adaptation of their work – reflecting on their relationship both as friends and as creative collaborators, and on what lies ahead for the world of aswang, dwende and Alexandra Trese.
Budgette is best known for writing the horror/crime komiks series Trese, co-created with Kajo Baldisimo. Trese has received the Philippine National Book Award for Best Graphic Literature of the Year across multiple years and has been adapted into an animated series by Netflix. He is also the co-editor and writer of The Lost Journal of Alejandro Pardo and The Black Bestiary. He currently works in Denmark as one of the creative leads in the LEGO Agency.
Kajo is the illustrator and co-creator of the award-winning comic book series Trese, the story of a detective unraveling criminal cases of the supernatural kind. As a devoted doodler of fun worlds and dark realms, Baldisimo has worked for local Filipino komiks publishers to maintain his addiction to books and worked in advertising to sustain his biological functions. He is currently based in Davao, Philippines, residing with his family and his army of overly excited canines and feisty felines.
Attend Budjette & Kaho’s session | Follow Budjette | Follow Kajo
Ambeth Ocampo
Ambeth is a public historian and independent curator whose research covers the late 19th century Philippines: its art, culture, and the people who figure in the birth of the nation. He is currently a professor at the Department of History at Ateneo de Manila University. Ocampo has published over 35 books and writes a widely read editorial page column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Ambeth, through his session “Dirty Ice Cream, Banana Ketchup & Stinking Fish” will deconstruct the fascinating history behind the deliciously iconic foods of the Philippines.
He will also join a panel called, “Through the Magnifying Glass” to talk about micro-histories – an equally important way to examine history by exploring the tiny and overlooked aspects of human behavior and perception.
Attend Ambeth’s sessions | Follow Ambeth
“On this battlefield man has no better weapon than his intelligence, no other force but his heart.”
Jose Rizal
Angelo R. Lacuesta
Novelist and short story writer Angelo R. Lacuesta will conduct a workshop to guide the audience through the wonderful world of flash fiction — stories that can be written in one sitting and read in a flash.
Angelo is an author who has written five short story collections, two non-fiction books, and a collection of graphic stories. His new novel, Joy, navigates a Filipino man’s ruminations of memory, identity, loss, and love after a late-night virtual message rekindles relationships abandoned after decades of distance. Lacuesta is the President of the Philippine Centre of PEN International, and the winner of numerous awards including the National Book Award, the NVM Gonzalez Award, and several Palanca Memorial Awards. Lacuesta is currently based in Manila, Philippines.
Attend Angelo’s sessions | Follow Angelo
Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta
Mookie is the author of five poetry collections and a debut biofiction novel, Assembling Alice. She has co-edited various literary Filipino poetry anthologies for the Cordite Poetry Review and Vagabond Press. Widely awarded for her work in the Philippines, Katigbak-Lacuesta has also been the Filipino delegate to international literary festivals in Rotterdam, Medellín, San Francisco, Macau, and Kuala Lumpur.
Angelo and Mookie will have another session with Kevin and Katie Tsang called, “Married to the Job,” wherein they will share what it’s like living and growing with each other as writers and partners. A lot of questions such as the following:
- What’s it like being married to another writer?
- How does their relationship impacts their writing careers?
- What are their household and writing routines like?
- Do they write in the same room?
- and more…
Attend Mookie’s sessions | Follow Mookie
Miguel Syjuco
Miguel is a Filipino novelist, journalist, and professor at New York University Abu Dhabi. He is the author of Ilustrado, winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize, the Palanca Awards Grand Prize, and other accolades, and I Was the President’s Mistress!!.
Dr. Syjuco has contributed to the world’s most respected publications, including as an opinion writer for The International New York Times. He serves on the advisory councils of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, an arts fellowship in Italy, and the Resilience Fund, a project by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime to empower communities most threatened by criminality.
Miguel will share the platform with Angelo R. Lacuesta and Danabelle Gutierrez to dive into the stories of the contemporary Filipino transcending beyond borders. They will talk about the impact of the Filipino voice and representation on readers and writers across the global community.
He will also join other international authors in a session called, “The City and The Writer,” to dissect how powerful writing immerses us in spaces or places we have never visited; and why writers build their fictional cities not only as a foundation but also as protagonist in their work.
Attend Miguel’s sessions | Follow Miguel
Pia Fajelagutan
Pia, an author, poet, and illustrator, will conduct a workshop where the audience will study contemporary music, and learn how poetry orchestrates its music – the arguments, tensions, and environment – via arrangements of language into lines and stanzas.
Her debut poetry collection, Whiskey for the Uninitiated, published under the pseudonym Liethers, was released in 2021. Her style and work are influenced by both Asian and European aesthetics, and often explore themes of philosophy, identity, mythology, and astronomy.
Attend Pia’s sessions | Follow Pia
Danabelle Gutierrez
Dubai-based Danabelle is a multi-awarded artist, writer, actor, and photographer. She is the author of poetry books & Until The Dreams Come and I Long To Be The River and chapbooks Eventually, The River Surrenders and Softer. Her writing has been published in The Common, Cordite Poetry Review, Postscript Magazine, ElectraStreet, WordsDance, and in a video for Vogue Arabia recited by Ciara, among other publications.
Her latest book, Tears Across the Earth which will be launched at the event, is a collection of short stories and poems that wanders with the reader through various landscapes, exploring the theme of belonging through identity, home, language, and relationships – tearing across the earth, looking for something to call its own.
The official launch of the book will feature a series of poetry, readings, and an in-depth conversation with the Danabelle herself.
She will also be hosting Fresh Air, Fresh Lyrics- an open mic night featuring UAE’s best homegrown talent and international artists as well.
Attend Danabelle’s sessions | Follow Danabelle
Tickets
Ticket prices vary from AED40 to AED250. They may be bought online at the official website. Various discounts are available for Foundation Friends.
While some sessions are FREE, attendees are required to book their slots through the same link above..
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Photos and author bio from Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.
