Two or Three Things About Desire

Conchitina Cruz was born in Manila. She teaches creative writing and literature at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Her books of poetry include Dark Hours (UP Press, 2005), which received the National Book Award for Poetry, and elsewhere held and lingered (High Chair, 2008). Together with Adam David and Delilah Aguilar, she co-authored A Catalogue of Clothes for Sale from the Closet of Christine Abella-Perpetual Student, Ukay Fan, and Compulsive Travelee (The Youth & Beauty Brigade, 2012).

She served as co-editor of High Chair 12, a three-part issue of the journal devoted to the Maguindanao Massacre of 2009, and the Kritika Kultura Anthology of New Philippine Writing in English (English Department, Ateneo de Manila University, March 2011). A recipient of Fulbright and Rockefeller Foundation grants, she has published her poetry in Philippine and American journals. Together with a few other Manila-based writers, Cruz runs a small press called The Youth & Beauty Brigade.She is currently pursuing a PhD in English at the University at Albany, The State University of New York.