Miguel
Syjuco ...

Miguel Syjuco is an award-winning Filipino writer. He studied English Literature at the Ateneo de Manila University in 2000, and for an MFA from Columbia University in 2004. Ilustrado (2010), his bright and brilliant debut, earned him a pair of prestigious awards – the Grand Prize for the Novel in English at the 2008 Palanca Awards, and the Man Asian Literary Prize. ‘It is ceaselessly entertaining, frequently raunchy, and effervescent with humour’, praised the judges. Syjuco, who spoke at Asia House in London and has been interviewed for the National Post website, GMA News and Trisha Andres, currently lives in Montreal with his girlfriend and their cats, and he is on a scholarship for a PhD in English literature from the University of Adelaide.

Syjuco’s novel Ilustrado was in the running for our inaugural Readers’ First Book Award in 2010. Each year, every one of the debut novels, novellas and short story collections appearing in our adult programme is entered into our Readers’ First Book Award, and the winner is chosen by the public. Details are announced when the programme is launched in June.