Bino Realuyo
Encyclopedia
Bino A. Realuyo is a Filipino-American novelist, poet, community organizer and adult educator. He was born and raised in Manila
, Philippines
but spent most of his adult life in New York City
. His acclaimed novel, The Umbrella Country published in 1999 by Ballantine Reader's Circle, Random House
was included in Booklist's Top Ten First Novels of 1999. Upon release, the novel reached the #2 spot in the Philippines
. The Umbrella Country was also a nominee for the Barnes & Noble
Discover Great Writers Award 1999 and a recipient of the first Asian American "Members' Choice" Literary Award in the year 2000.
Realuyo's first poetry collection, The Gods We Worship Live Next Door won the 2005 Agha Shahid Ali
Prize in Poetry, selected by Grace Schulman, distinguished professor of English at Baruch College, City University of New York and poetry editor of The Nation
. It was released by the University of Utah Press
in March 2006. The Philippine edition of The Gods We Worship Live Next Door was released by Anvil Press in the Philippines in March, 2008, marking his very first book publication in his birth country. The Gods We Worship Live Next Door received a 2009 Philippine National Book Award.
He is a regular contributor to The Literary Review
and guest edited its special issue on contemporary Filipino and Filipino-American literature in Spring 2000, titled "Am Here: Contemporary Filipino Writings in English". He is also the editor of The NuyorAsian Anthology: Asian American writings about New York City, a collection commemorating 100 years of Asian American presence in New York City. The anthology was published by the Asian American Writers' Workshop
and Temple University Press
in 1999, and awarded a PEN Open Book Award 2000.
Realuyo began his writing through his plays and poetry in elementary school. He wrote in Pilipino/Tagalog, his native language but later on shifted to English when his family immigrated to the United States when he was a teenager. Since co-founding Asian American Writers' Workshop
after college, he has been published in major literary journals, magazines and anthologies in the United States including The Nation
, Manoa
, Mid-American Review
, Puerto del Sol, New Letters, and The Kenyon Review
. His work is widely anthologized and reviewed internationally. Most recently, he (Filipineza, poem )is included in the Norton Anthology Language for a New Century and Fire in the Soul: 100 Poems for Human Rights.
Death March and Japanese Concentration Camps in the Philippines
during World War II
. His next poetry collection, On which the Summer Leans will chronicle his father's experiences during World War II, from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's recruitment of young Filipinos into the U.S. Army through the terrors of the Bataan
Death March and Japanese Camps to the denial of their war-time benefits as a result of the approval by the U.S. Congress of the Rescission Act of 1946
.
As a community organizer, Realuyo has worked for human rights organizations and labor unions in New York City. However, for the past 12 years, he has worked in adult education as a program manager in workforce related labor unions, and now, as a classroom teacher in a welfare program in New York City. As an educator, he believes in Freirian pedagogical approaches to education—teaching the word by teaching the world. His specialization is the integration of technology into ESOL adult literacy classroom.
He is a world traveler, with deep interest in diverse cultures. His major in college lead him to travel between the U.S. and South America. After receiving his degree and bed-bunking from one country to another, he decided to return to his life long passion of creative writing while working full-time as a community organizer in New York's marginalized communities. However, he has made a commitment to spending a month every year traveling and immersing himself in different cultures. In the past two years, he has spent his summers in Brazil. He is multilingual, proficient in Tagalog and Spanish and currently studying Brazilian Portuguese.
, a New York Foundation for the Arts
Fellowship for fiction, an Urban Artist Initiative Grant for fiction, a Valparaiso Literary Fellowship for fiction, and a Yaddo
Fellowship for poetry. He has recently finished a novel-in-stories about the Filipino American experience in New York
City, titled, The F.L.I.P Show (recipient of an Urban Artist Initiative Grant) and is currently working on a second novel, The Ashen Parts (recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts
Fellowship).
Realuyo has a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies
from the School of International Service of the American University
in Washington, D.C.
, and Universidad Argentina de la Empresa
in Buenos Aires
, Argentina
. He has a Master's in Education, with a focus on Technology from Harvard University
, where he also served as a fellow in social entrepreneurship at the Center for Public Leadership
of the John F. Kennedy School of Government
.
He has been an adjunct faculty member of Fairleigh Dickinson University
's International MFA in Creative Writing and also serves as a member of Fairleigh Dickinson University
's Global Virtual Faculty since its inception.
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
but spent most of his adult life in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His acclaimed novel, The Umbrella Country published in 1999 by Ballantine Reader's Circle, Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
was included in Booklist's Top Ten First Novels of 1999. Upon release, the novel reached the #2 spot in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. The Umbrella Country was also a nominee for the Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
Discover Great Writers Award 1999 and a recipient of the first Asian American "Members' Choice" Literary Award in the year 2000.
Realuyo's first poetry collection, The Gods We Worship Live Next Door won the 2005 Agha Shahid Ali
Agha Shahid Ali
Agha Shahid Ali was a Kashmiri American poet...
Prize in Poetry, selected by Grace Schulman, distinguished professor of English at Baruch College, City University of New York and poetry editor of The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
. It was released by the University of Utah Press
University of Utah Press
The University of Utah Press is the independent publishing branch of the University of Utah and is a division of the J. Willard Marriott Library. Founded in 1949 by A. Ray Olpin, it is also the oldest university press in Utah...
in March 2006. The Philippine edition of The Gods We Worship Live Next Door was released by Anvil Press in the Philippines in March, 2008, marking his very first book publication in his birth country. The Gods We Worship Live Next Door received a 2009 Philippine National Book Award.
He is a regular contributor to The Literary Review
The Literary Review
The Literary Review is an American literary magazine founded in 1957. The quarterly magazine is published internationally by Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey...
and guest edited its special issue on contemporary Filipino and Filipino-American literature in Spring 2000, titled "Am Here: Contemporary Filipino Writings in English". He is also the editor of The NuyorAsian Anthology: Asian American writings about New York City, a collection commemorating 100 years of Asian American presence in New York City. The anthology was published by the Asian American Writers' Workshop
Asian American Writers' Workshop
The Asian American Writers' Workshop is a nonprofit literary arts organization founded in 1991 to support of writers, literature and community. The Workshop also offers the annual Asian American Literary Awards and sponsors Page Turner: The Asian American Literary Festival.-External links:* *...
and Temple University Press
Temple University Press
Temple University Press is a university press publishing house that is part of Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The press was founded in 1969....
in 1999, and awarded a PEN Open Book Award 2000.
Realuyo began his writing through his plays and poetry in elementary school. He wrote in Pilipino/Tagalog, his native language but later on shifted to English when his family immigrated to the United States when he was a teenager. Since co-founding Asian American Writers' Workshop
Asian American Writers' Workshop
The Asian American Writers' Workshop is a nonprofit literary arts organization founded in 1991 to support of writers, literature and community. The Workshop also offers the annual Asian American Literary Awards and sponsors Page Turner: The Asian American Literary Festival.-External links:* *...
after college, he has been published in major literary journals, magazines and anthologies in the United States including The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, Manoa
Manoa (journal)
Mānoa is a literary journal that includes American and international fiction, poetry, artwork, interviews, and essays of current cultural or literary interest. A notable feature of each issue is original translations of contemporary work from Asian and Pacific nations, selected for each issue by a...
, Mid-American Review
Mid-American Review
Mid-American Review is an international literary journal dedicated to publishing contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and translations. Founded in 1981, MAR is a publication of the Department of English and the College of Arts & Sciences at Bowling Green State University...
, Puerto del Sol, New Letters, and The Kenyon Review
The Kenyon Review
The Kenyon Review is a Literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, USA, home of Kenyon College. The Review was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959...
. His work is widely anthologized and reviewed internationally. Most recently, he (Filipineza, poem )is included in the Norton Anthology Language for a New Century and Fire in the Soul: 100 Poems for Human Rights.
Background
Realuyo is dedicated to social change, inspired by his father, the late Augusto Roa Realuyo, an architect and engineer and survivor of the BataanBataan
Bataan is a province of the Philippines occupying the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon. The province is part of the Central Luzon region. The capital of Bataan is Balanga City and it is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north...
Death March and Japanese Concentration Camps in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His next poetry collection, On which the Summer Leans will chronicle his father's experiences during World War II, from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's recruitment of young Filipinos into the U.S. Army through the terrors of the Bataan
Bataan
Bataan is a province of the Philippines occupying the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon. The province is part of the Central Luzon region. The capital of Bataan is Balanga City and it is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north...
Death March and Japanese Camps to the denial of their war-time benefits as a result of the approval by the U.S. Congress of the Rescission Act of 1946
Rescission Act of 1946
-Summary:Service before July 1, 1946, in the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, while such forces were in the service of the Armed Forces of the United States pursuant to the military order of the President dated July 26, 1941, including among such...
.
As a community organizer, Realuyo has worked for human rights organizations and labor unions in New York City. However, for the past 12 years, he has worked in adult education as a program manager in workforce related labor unions, and now, as a classroom teacher in a welfare program in New York City. As an educator, he believes in Freirian pedagogical approaches to education—teaching the word by teaching the world. His specialization is the integration of technology into ESOL adult literacy classroom.
He is a world traveler, with deep interest in diverse cultures. His major in college lead him to travel between the U.S. and South America. After receiving his degree and bed-bunking from one country to another, he decided to return to his life long passion of creative writing while working full-time as a community organizer in New York's marginalized communities. However, he has made a commitment to spending a month every year traveling and immersing himself in different cultures. In the past two years, he has spent his summers in Brazil. He is multilingual, proficient in Tagalog and Spanish and currently studying Brazilian Portuguese.
Affiliations, Education, and Citations
Among his numerous literary awards and fellowships are a Van Lier Foundation Fellowship for poetry, the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from Poetry Society of AmericaPoetry Society of America
The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists including Witter Bynner. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the have included such renowned writers as Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Edna St. Vincent...
, a New York Foundation for the Arts
New York Foundation for the Arts
The New York Foundation for the Arts was created in conjunction the in 1971. The organization gives grants to individual artists and writers and developing arts organizations with a mission to '.'-NYFA's Programs:...
Fellowship for fiction, an Urban Artist Initiative Grant for fiction, a Valparaiso Literary Fellowship for fiction, and a Yaddo
Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400 acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment."...
Fellowship for poetry. He has recently finished a novel-in-stories about the Filipino American experience in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
City, titled, The F.L.I.P Show (recipient of an Urban Artist Initiative Grant) and is currently working on a second novel, The Ashen Parts (recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts
New York Foundation for the Arts
The New York Foundation for the Arts was created in conjunction the in 1971. The organization gives grants to individual artists and writers and developing arts organizations with a mission to '.'-NYFA's Programs:...
Fellowship).
Realuyo has a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies
International studies
International Studies generally refers to the specific University Degrees and courses which are concerned with the study of ‘the major political, economic, social, cultural and sacral issues that dominate the international agenda’...
from the School of International Service of the American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and Universidad Argentina de la Empresa
Universidad Argentina de la Empresa
Universidad Argentina de la Empresa is a private university in Buenos Aires, Argentina with a satellite campus in Pinamar.-History:...
in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. He has a Master's in Education, with a focus on Technology from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where he also served as a fellow in social entrepreneurship at the Center for Public Leadership
Center for Public Leadership
The Center for Public Leadership is an American learning institution that provides teaching, research and training in the practical skills of leadership for people in government, nonprofits, and business. It was established in 2000, through a gift from the Wexner Foundation, at Harvard Kennedy...
of the John F. Kennedy School of Government
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...
.
He has been an adjunct faculty member of Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university founded as a junior college in 1942. It now has several campuses located in New Jersey, Canada, and the United Kingdom.-Description:...
's International MFA in Creative Writing and also serves as a member of Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university founded as a junior college in 1942. It now has several campuses located in New Jersey, Canada, and the United Kingdom.-Description:...
's Global Virtual Faculty since its inception.
External links
- Bino Realuyo home page
- Bold Type Random House
- The Umbrella Country Random House
- The Gods We Worship Live Next Door Univ Utah Press
- Pif Magazine
- New York Press Finding the Face of Asian New York
- Filipinas Cover Story 2000
- The Nation
- Editor, The Literary Review Filipino/Filipino-American Edition 2000
- The Literary Review/WebdelSol Web Chapbook 1998