ROEL HOANG MANIPON
Roel Hoang Manipon is a travel writer and freelance journalist, poet, award-winning fictionist, essayist, cultural researcher, translator, strip dancer, cultural researcher, masseur, part-time model and a natural cook.
Born in Da Nang, Vietnam of a Vietnamese mother and an Ilocano father from Urdaneta, Pangasinan, he is a graduate of Journalism and Literature from the University of Santo Tomas during which he was editor in chief of The Flame (1992-1994), president of the Thomasian Writers Guild (1993-1994), and associate editor of The Varsitarian (1994-1995); held poetry performances and readings; and gave lectures on literature and writing in different schools.
In 1995, he was a fellow for poetry of the University of the Philippines National Writers Workshop in Baguio City and the Iligan National Writers Workshop in Iligan City. He was awarded the Gantimpalang Ani first prize for his short story in Filipino, Bagyo at Balang, in 1991.
He became staff reporter of the lifestyle and entertainment section of The Business Daily and the Philippine Post where he wrote about fashion, food, travel, arts and culture, and reviewed films, theater, visual arts and music. He also at one time wrote a regularly book review column in Mega magazine.
His Journalism, reviews and creative writing have been published in Philippine Panorama, Philippines Free Press, Cool Magazine, Ahead, Taipan, Insurance World, Mabuhay, Manila Standard, Manila Chronicle, The Manila Times, Malaya, The Manila Bulletin, Mirror Weekly, Mod, Womans Home Companion, Celebrity World, Bandillo ng Palawan Magazine, Family Reader, Home Life, Tag-Araw, Tomas, Noveau, Media Watch, Liwayway, Moneysavers, Babae, and others.
His poetry has appeared in the anthologies Dreaming the Looms: Proceedings of the Second Iligan National Writers Workshop and Teachers Conference, edited by Jaime An. Lim and Christina Godinez Ortega, 1995, and Instik: An Anthology of Chinese-Filipino Writings, edited by Caroline Hau (2000, Anvil Publishing); and his essay in The Likhaan Book of Drama, edited by Anton Juan (University of the Philippines Press).
His interests vary greatly: writing and literature, arts and culture, history, cultural conservation, religion, astronomy, folklore and urban legends, psychology and psychiatry, medicine, biology, geography, languages, music, film, theater, environment, gastronomy and culinary arts, fashion, science fiction and fantasy, philately, sex, visual arts, among others.
He is a passionate reader and collector of books, and his library contains about a thousand books. He considers watching Discovery and National Geographic channels therapeutic. One of his current literary concentrations is travel writing drawing inspiration from fellow Filipino travel essayists like Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, Alice Sun-Cua, Anita Feleo and David Sheniak and admiring the works of Pico Iyer, Bruce Chatwin, Paul Theroux, among others. His travel essays will collected into a book soon.
Manipon is currently finishing his MFA in Creating Writing at the De La Salle University; contributing to the Daily Tribune, The Village Voice and Mabuhay magazine; writing about arts and culture for the National Commission on Arts and Culture News and Features; and traveling the country.
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