Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo was born on August 21, 1944 in Manila. The renowned teacher, editor, writer, and pioneer of creative nonfiction obtained her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Philippines in 1993. Garnering honors since her colegiala days, Dr. Hidalgo has also received such prestigious awards as Gawad Balagtas, Graphic, Free Press, Focus, Manila Critics’ Circle, British Council Grant to Cambridge, and the U.P. President’s Award for Outstanding Publication. She has been recognized as Outstanding Thomasian Writer, Hall of Famer for the International Publication Award, and Grand Prize winner for the Novel in the Palanca Awards.

Her husband’s fifteen-year relationship with UNICEF provided her with opportunities to explore various countries. Out of her experiences were born seven autobiographical travel books, including Sojourns (1984), Celadon and Kimchi: A Korean Notebook (1993), Coming Home (1997), and Passages: Selected Travel Essays (2008). She also has five short story collections, the most recent of which is Sky Blue After the Rain (2005), and two novels, Recuerdo (1996), which won the Palanca, and A Book of Dreams (2001). Her work in literary criticism has produced four books that include studies of women’s literature, such as those published in Woman Writing: Home and Exile in the Autobiographical Narratives of Filipino Women (1994), A Gentle Subversion (1998), and Over a Cup of Ginger Tea (2006). Dr. Hidalgo has also put together numerous anthologies such as The Likhaan Book of Poetry and Fiction (1995 and 2001), Sleepless in Manila (2003), My Fair Maladies (2005), and The Children's Hour: Stories on Childhood, Vol. II (2006).

She is currently Vice President for Public Affairs of the University of the Philippines and an associate of the UP Institute of Creative Writing.

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