Merlie M. Alunan, an associate of the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing, is a professor at the U.P. College in Tacloban City, where she currently resides. She obtained her M.A. in Creative Writing from the Silliman University in Dumaguete City in 1975. She has received numerous awards for her writing, including the Lillian Jerome Thornton Award for Nonfiction, Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, Free Press, Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Creative Work, and Likhaan Workshop Award. Her book Hearthstone, Sacred Tree (Anvil, 1993), in particular, consists of sets of poetry that won in the prestigious Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in 1985, 1988, 1991, and 1992. She published another collection of poems, entitled Amina Among the Angels, in 1997. Her other works include a book that delves into social history, Kabilin: 100 Years of Negros Oriental (1993) and the anthology Fern Garden: An Anthology of Women Writing in the South (1998). In addition to teaching literature, she also serves as a panelist in prominent writing workshops like the Iligan National Writers Workshop.

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