Author’s Background
Luis Joaquin M. Katigbak, born on July 26 1974, is a Filipino writer and music critic from Quezon City. He graduated from the University of the Philippines, also known as UP. Initially, he aspired to be a mathematician, but, in the middle of college, he realized his calling was to be a writer. As a result, he shifted into a creative writing course, BA English, from BS Mathematics. In fact, he has been writing since his childhood and had even some of his works published in his early teen years. These works have been published in Philippine Graphic, The Philippines Free Press, The Likhaan Book of Poetry and Fiction 1995/1997, and East Magazine. Since then, Katigbak has also written three book: Happy Endings, a collection of short stories; The King of Nothing to Do, a collection of essays; and Dear Distance, another collection of stories. The first two of which have been nominated in the National Book Awards. On the 20th of April in 2016, Katigbak passed away at age 41 as a result of diabetes. His most recent vocation, though, was as Senior Editor and Reviews Editor for BURN Magazine. Prior to that, he worked as a PULP Magazine/MTV Ink resident writer, a Philippine Star columnist, an Esquire Philipppines associate editor, a UP Diliman Creative Writing Lecturer, and an Office of Justice Carpio Director II. Katigbak has received a Philippine Graphic prize, a Young Artists' Grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, or NCCA, and four short story Palanca awards. These four short fictions are Dear Distance, Mico and Friends, Nico’s Flight, and the topic for today— Subterrania.