Merlinda Bobis is a contemporary Philippine-Australian writer and performer. She has published across multiple genres. Born in Legazpi City in the Philippines, Merlinda completed her BA at Aquinas University of Legazpi and her postgraduate studies at the University of Santo Tomas and the University of Wollongong, where she went on to lecture in creative writing for 21 years. She is currently Honorary Senior Lecturer at The Australian National University.

Merlinda’s works have been published in English, Filipino and Bikol, integrating Philippine and Australian cultures and experiences with a wider global vision. In 2016 Merlinda’s novel, Locust Girl: A Love Song, was awarded the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and the Philippine National Book Award. Her earlier novel, Fish-Hair Woman, also received the 2014 Philippine National Book Award and Australia’s 2013 MUBA from the Small Press Network.

Merlinda is the recipient of multiple international awards. Her play Rita’s Lullaby was the winner of the 1995 Ian Reed Radio Drama Prize, the 1998 AWGIE for Best Radio Play and the prestigious International Prix Italia for radio fiction. In 2000 White Turtle received the Steele Rudd Award for the Best Published Collection of Australian Short stories and the Philippine National Book Award. Merlinda’s first novel Banana Heart Summer won the 2006 Philippine Golden Book Award and was shortlisted for the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. Poems from her new collection Accidents of Composition (2017) also won Second Prize in one of the Philippines’ most prestigious and oldest literary awards, the Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature. Merlinda has performed her literary works as theatre in Australia, Philippines, USA, Spain, Singapore, France and China.

News

Merlinda Bobis will launch her 6th poetry book Accidents of Composition in August (Australia) and in September (Philippines). She will appear at the 2017 Byron Bay Writers Festival, Bendigo Writers Festival and Canberra Writers Festival, and give readings in the ACT, Victoria and NSW. She will launch the 2017 Wollongong Writers Festival on 18 August 2017. She will also participate at the Filipino-American International Book Fair (6-8 Oct 2017, San Francisco) and give readings in Los Angeles, USA.

Performances

Watch two original dramatic works performed by Merlinda Bobis on her website. River, River is adapted from her short story 'Fish-Hair Woman' and has been performed internationally and broadcast on ABC Radio. Cantata of the Warrior Woman Daragang Magayon (her epic poem in Summer Was a Fast Train Without Terminals) has also been performed across the globe as a solo and collaborative work featuring opera and traditional Philippine chanting and dance.

Book Awards

Locust Girl: 2016 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction

Locust Girl: 2016 Juan C. Laya Philippine National Book Award for Best Novel in English

Fish-Hair Woman: Finalist: 2013 Davitt Awards. Best crime and mystery books by Australian women

Fish-Hair Woman: 2014 Juan C. Laya Philippine National Book Award 

Fish-Hair Woman: 2013 Most Underrated Book Award

Banana Heart Summer: 2006 Gintong Aklat Award (Golden Book Award), Philippines

Banana Heart Summer: Shortlist: 2006 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal

White Turtle: 2001 Judges' Choice Award, Bumbershoot Book Fair, USA 

White Turtle: 2000 Steele Rudd Award for the Best Published Collection of Australian Short Stories (Co-winner)

White Turtle: 2000 Philippine National Book Award, Fiction (Co-winner)

Summer Was A Fast Train Without Terminals: Shortlist: 1999 The Age Poetry Book of the Year Award

Awards

2016 Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature (one of the oldest and longest running awards in the Philippines), Second Prize, Poetry in English for 'Accidents of Composition': 15 unpublished poems

2006 Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas (National Philippine Balagtas Award: lifetime award for author’s poetry and prose in English, Filipino, Bikol)

1998 Prix Italia (International award for radio fiction) for radio play Rita's Lullaby

1998 Australian Writers’ Guild Award (AWGIE) for Rita’s Lullaby

1998 Pamana Philippine Presidential Award for achievement in the arts (for Filipino expatriates)

1998 Out of the Ashes Trans-Tasman Short Story Competition (Co-winner) for short story ‘White Turtle’

1997 Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio National’s Books & Writing Short Story Competition for ‘The Tongue’ (also known as ‘An Earnest Parable’ in her book White Turtle) 

1995 Ian Reed Foundation Prize for Radio Drama for Rita's Lullaby

1995 Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature, Honourable Mention for Ms. Serena Serenata (one-act play)

1990 Gawad Cultural Centre of the Philippines (Philippine national award for poetry in Filipino) for collection of poems Mula Dulo Hanggang Kanto (From Edge to Corner)      

1989 Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature, Second Prize, Poetry in Filipino for Lupang di Hinirang: Kuwento at Sikreto (Land not Dearest: Story and Secret)    

1987 Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature, (Co-winner) First Prize, Poetry in Filipino for Peopleness