Ma. Luisa Aguilar Igloria

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Luisa [Aguilar] Igloria (born 1961) is a Filipina American poet and author of various award-winning collections.

She received her undergraduate degree from the University of the Philippines, Baguio in 1980 (B.A. Humanities - Cum Laude - major in Comparative Literature, minor in English, cognate in Philosophy), and the M.A. in Literature at Ateneo de Manila University at Manila, Philippines in 1988 as a Robert Southwell Fellow. She received a Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago in July 1995, where she was a Fulbright Fellow.

While in Chicago, Igloria was an active member of PINTIG, a Filipino-American cultural and theatre group. She was a member of PINTIG's cultural and education committee and wrote some scenes for Chris Millado's stage play, Scenes from an Unfinished Country: 1905-1995. She was a Visiting Humanities Scholar in 1996 at the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She also taught briefly at De La Salle University where she became the Graduate Programs Coordinator and Senior Associate for Poetry at the Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center at De La Salle University.

She is highly decorated for her expanse of work. Luisa is an eleven-time (five First Prizes, plus six lesser prizes) recipient of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in three genres (poetry, nonfiction, and short fiction); the Palanca award is the Philippines' highest literary distinction. In 1996 she became the first Filipina woman of letters installed in the Palanca Literary Hall of Fame. She is also the recipient of the 1988 Black Warrior Literary Award from the literary magazine of the University of Alabama; the Charles Goodnow Endowed Award for Creative Writing from the Chicago Bar Association on 1993 and 1995; the 1998 Illinois Arts Council Literary Award and the George Kent Prize for Poetry.

Recent awards include the 2009 Ernest Sandeen Prize in Poetry from the University of Notre Dame Press, the 2007 49th Parallel Prize in Poetry from the Bellingham Review, the 2007 James Hearst Poetry Prize (selected by former US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser), the 2006 National Writers Union Poetry Prize (selected by Adrienne Rich), the 2006 Stephen Dunn Award for Poetry; the first Sylvia Clare Brown Fellowship, Ragdale Foundation (Summer 2006 Residency); Finalist for the 2005 George Bogin Memorial Award for Poetry (Poetry Society of America; selected by Joy Harjo); the 2005 Richard Lemon Poetry Fellowship to the Napa Valley Writers Conference; First Prize in the 2004 Fugue poetry contest (selected by Ellen Bryant Voigt); Finalist in the 2003 Larry Levis Editors Prize for Poetry from The Missouri Review; Finalist in the 2003 Dorset Prize for Poetry (Tupelo Press); a 2003 partial fellowship to the Summer Literary Seminars in St. Petersburg; two Pushcart Prize nominations and the 1998 George Kent Award for Poetry.

She has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals including Poetry, Crab Orchard Review, The Missouri Review, Indiana Review, Poetry East, Smartish Pace, The Asian Pacific American Journal, and TriQuarterly. She edited the anthology NOT HOME, BUT HERE: WRITING FROM THE FILIPINO DIASPORA (Anvil, 2003); and has published a total of nine books to date.

She is currently an Associate Professor in the MFA Creative Writing Program, Department of English, Old Dominion University (Norfolk , Virginia).

She has four daughters: Jennifer Patricia Cariño (b. 1981), Julia Katrina Cariño (b. 1983), Jospehine Anne Cariño (b. 1988), and Gabriela Aurora Igloria (b. 2001).

[edit] Books

Cordillera Tales (New Day, 1990); 1991 National Book Award (Manila Critics Circle, Philippines)
Cartography (Anvil, 1992); 1993 National Book Award for Poetry (Manila Critics Circle, Philippines)
Encanto (Anvil, 1993); 1994 National Book Award for Poetry (Manila Critics Circle, Philippines)
In the Garden of the Three Islands (Moyer Bell/Asphodel, 1995)
Blood Sacrifice (University of the Philippines Press, 1997); 1998 National Book Award for Poetry (Manila Critics Circle, Philippines)
Songs for the Beginning of the Millennium (De La Salle University Press, 1997); Finalist, 1998 National Book Award for Poetry (Manila Critics Circle, Philippines)
Turnings: Writing on Women's Transformations, co-edited with Renee Olander (Friends of Women’s Studies at Old Dominion University, March 2000)
Not Home, But Here: Writing from the Filipino Diaspora, as central editor (Anvil, 2003)
Trill and Mordent (WordTech Editions, fall 2005); Runner-up, 2004 Editions Prize
Juan Luna's Revolver (University of Notre Dame Press, forthcoming, November 2009); 2009 Ernest Sandeen Prize in Poetry