Biography

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Born and raised in Manila and currently living in New York City, Eric Gamalinda is the author of five novels that revolve around a common theme: an examination of the Filipinos’ soul and identity, and their struggle to make sense of a complicated history often marked by hardship and brutality, but also love and beauty. Each novel addresses a different social issue, from the loss of innocence and coming of age under martial law (Planet Waves), overseas workers in Japan (Confessions of a Volcano), the rise and fall of the Marcos regime (Empire of Memory), the Philippine-American War (My Sad Republic), and multiracial identity (The Descartes Highlands, described as "exquisitely written" by Amy Tan).

Aside from his novels, he has also published three collections of poetry; Zero Gravity has been hailed as “luminous” (Arthur Sze) and “wonderful and vibrant” (Michael Burkard). “Gamalinda is a marvelous poet,” wrote D. Nurkse, poet laureate of Brooklyn, about Amigo Warfare. “His wistful, fierce, enthralled voice seems to speak the true language, the sotto voce language we can’t hear in our world of binary and mutually destructive opposites.” Eric has also published two collections of short stories, and his work has been featured in a number of anthologies in the US, Philippines and Europe.
 
Recognition for his work includes a New York State Council on the Arts grant for film and media [2014], the Cultural Center of the Philippines Independent Film and Video Awards [2004], the Asian American Literary Award and the Alice James Books New York/New England Selection for Zero Gravity [2000], the New York Foundation for the Arts [fiction, 1998], the Philippine Centennial Literary Prize for My Sad Republic [1998], the Philippine National Book Award twice for Planet Waves [1990] and My Sad Republic [2000], and the Asiaweek Short Story Competition [1985]. He has also won the Philippines’ top literary prize, the Palanca Memorial Awards, several times for poetry, fiction, non-fiction and playwriting. He was a featured poet in The Dodge Festival's Poets Among Us program in 1996. In 2009, The Descartes Highlands was shortlisted for the Man Asian Prize. In 2010, his three-act play, Resurrection, was staged off-Broadway at the Clurman Theater on 42nd Street by Diverse City Inc.  

Eric has been in residence at Civitella Ranieri [Italy], Association d’Art de La Napoule [France], Chateau de Lavigny Residence pour Ecrivains [Switzerland], Fundacion Valparaiso [Spain], The Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio [Italy], Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers [Scotland], and The Corporation of Yaddo, The MacDowell Colony, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Ledig House International Writers Colony [USA].

He was publications director of the Asian American Writers Workshop until 1997, Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Hawaii in Manoa in 1999, and Visiting Scholar at New York University’s Asia Pacific American Studies Program in 2002-03. He currently teaches at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race.

Publications 

Novels
  • The Descartes Highlands [Akashic Books, New York, 2014]
  • My Sad Republic [University of the Philippines Press, 2000]
  • Empire of Memory [Anvil Publishers, Manila, 1992; new edition 2014]
  • Confessions of a Volcano [Anvil Publishers, Manila, 1990; new edition 2014]
  • Planet Waves [New Day, Manila, 1989]

Short fiction
  • People Are Strange [Black Lawrence Press, New York, 2012]
  • Peripheral Vision [New Day,  Manila, 1992]          

Poetry
  • Amigo Warfare [Cherry Grove Collections, Cincinnati OH, 2007]
  • Zero Gravity [Alice James Books, Farmington ME, 1999]
  • Lyrics from a Dead Language [Anvil Publishers, Manila, 1991]

Anthology
  • Flippin': Filipinos on America [Asian American Writers Workshop, New York, 1996] 
  
Other publications
  • Eric Gamalinda's stories have been published in Harper's Magazine and Granta, and anthologized in Manila Noir [Akashic Books]; Charlie Chan is Dead 2: At Home in the World [Penguin]; The Thirdest World [factory school]; Bold Words: A Century of Asian American Writing [Rutgers University Press]; Juncture: New Experimental Writing [Soft Skull]; In My Life: Encounters with the Beatles [Fromm International]; and Balikbayan: Racconti filippini contemporanei [Feltrinelli, Milan]. 
  • His poems have been anthologized in  Washington Square Review, as well as Language for a New Century [W.W. Norton]; Structure & Surprise [Teachers & Writers Collaborative]; Stranger at Home [Interpoezia/Numina Press]; Saints of Hysteria [Soft Skull Press]; Poetry Daily: 366 Poems from the World's Most Popular Website [Sourcebooks Inc.]; Sweet Jesus [The Anthology Press]; Returning a Borrowed Tongue [Coffee House Press]; Brown River, White Ocean [Rutgers University Press]; and Lo Ultimo de Filipinas: Antologia Poetica [Huerga y Fierro, Madrid].
  • His essays have been anthologized in Vestiges of War: The Philippine American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream [New York University Press] and Pinoy Poetics [Meritage Press].
  • Eric recently joined the roster of writers who have been in residence at the famed Raffles Hotel, which commissioned him in 2017 to write a story for the hotel's in-house magazine. Read it here:  https://www.raffles.com/promo/magazine/articles/the-joy-of-the-serpents.html
  • Eric's poem, "The Opposite of Nostalgia," was featured during U2's Joshua Tree Tour concert at the Philippine Arena, December 11, 2019.  See the Facebook video here: https://www.facebook.com/321798260429/videos/2792204837502486/.  And read the CNN report here: https://cnnphilippines.com/life/entertainment/Music/2019/12/13/U2-in-manila-photo.html

 Visit Eric's Amazon Author Page here.