Paraluman Aspillera, author, teacher, and newspaper journalist, specialized in the teaching of English and Tagalog. She was director of the Institute of Filipino Language and Culture at Philippine Women's University and a professor of Pilipino and Philippine Literature at the Institute of Asian Studies, University of the Philippines. She wrote the popular daily column "Your Tagalog Column," which appeared in the Manila Times, and authored many books and articles in both English and Tagalog. Mrs. Aspillera dedicated herself to promoting the national language and culture of her country through extensive travel in North America, Europe, and Asia, and served as executive secretary and director of the UNESCO-sponsored Akademya ng Wikang Pilipino.
Yolanda Canseco Hernandez holds a Master of Arts in English and a Bachelor's degree in literature and journalism. She taught for over 10 years at the Philippine Women's University and the Institute of Filipino Language and Culture.
Karen Llagas is a poet, translator and lecturer in Filipino at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a recipient of the Filamore Tabios Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize and a Hedgebrook residency. Her first collection of poetry,
Archipelago Dust, was published in 2010 and her poems have appeared in anthologies such as
Troubling Borders (2014),
The Place That Inhabits Us (2010) and
Field of Mirrors (2010), among others. She earned her BA at the Ateneo de Manila in the Philippines and her MFA in Creative Writing at Warren Wilson College.
