Dr Merlinda Bobis
Areas of expertise
- Performing Arts And Creative Writing 1904
- Creative Writing (Incl. Playwriting) 190402
- Performing Arts And Creative Writing Not Elsewhere Classified 190499
- Other Studies In Creative Arts And Writing 1999
Research interests
Novel, Short story, Poetry, Performance, Creative-Critical practice, Creative-Critical empathy, Ethics of Care, Creative arts and advocacy, Environment and culture, Gender, Decolonisation, Borders and Cross-cultural engagement, Transnationalism, Conflict and trauma.
Biography
Dr. Merlinda Bobis is a trilingual Filipino-Australian writer, performer, and scholar. She published 4 novels, 6 poetry books, 2 collections of short stories, a monograph of lectures on creative research and had 10 dramatic works performed/produced in Australia, Philippines, US, Canada, Spain, Singapore, China, France, Slovakia and Thailand. She has more than a hundred literary and scholarly works published in various anthologies, journals and magazines. Author's website: merlindabobis.com
Her literary awards include the 2021 Canberra Critics’ Circle Award for her collection of short stories The Kindness of Birds; the 2016 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards for her novel Locust Girl. A Lovesong; three Philippine National Book Awards (2016: Locust Girl, 2014: Fish-Hair Woman, 2000: White Turtle); 2013 MUBA for her novel Fish-Hair Woman; 2000 Steele Rudd Award for the Best Published Collection of Australian Short Stories for White Turtle; 2006 Philippine National Balagtas Award for her poetry and prose (in English, Filipino and Bikol); 1998 Prix Italia, 1998 Australian Writers’ Guild Award and 1995 Ian Reed Radio Drama Prize for her play Rita’s Lullaby; three Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards in Literature Poetry Category. The Kindness of Birds was also shortlisted for the 2022 Christina Stead Prize and the Steele Rudd Award, and was Highly Commended for the 2022 ACT Book of the Year. As well, her sixth poetry book Accidents of Composition was Highly Commended for the 2018 ACT Book of the Year. Other shortlistings include the 2016 ACT Book of the Year for Locust Girl, 2006 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for her first novel Banana Heart Summer and the 1998 The Age Poetry Book of the Year for Summer Was a Fast Train Without Terminals.
Her scholarly works are negotiations between creative and critical practice in relation to lived politics and advocacy that explore issues around gender, environment, migration, borders, war, memory, and colonisation. In Australia, the Philippines and Canada, she has also developed and facilitated community arts and advocacy projects on environment, resilience of women and girls, migration and language, and cross-cultural engagement. Her latest community project was Sulatan sa Panahon ng Pandemya ('Letter-writing in the Time of Pandemic', 2022), which involved 24 Filipinas exchanging letters across Australia, the Philippines and the US.
She taught Creative Writing for 21 years at University of Wollongong, and English and Literature for 10 years at Philippine tertiary institutions.
Researcher's projects
1) Novel in progress on trees as repositories of memory of climate, colonisation and conflict. 2) Book of scholarly essays: Border Lover: Creative-Critical Essays on Arts Practice. 2) Nature-Culture Ecology = Nature-Culture Pedagogy: Nature and Culture Conservation Project for Philippine High Schools. 3) Mga Anak ng Alaala ('Children of Memory': Remembering and Understanding Home: Canada and Philippines, Winnipeg Story Project).
Publications
- Bobis, M 2021, The Kindness of Birds (Short story collection), Spinifex Press, Australia.
- Bobis, M 2021, 'Dekolonyal na Elastisidad sa Salaysay ng Paglalakbay at na Naglalakbay ng Makatang Filipinong Transnasyonal: Mga Pakikipagsapalarang Malikhain at Kritikal/Decolonial Elasticity in the Filipino Transnational Poet's Travel and Traveling Story: Creative-Critical Journeys', Katipunan: Journal ng mga Pag-aaral sa Wika, Panitikan, at Sining at Kulturang Filipino/Katipunan: Journal of Research in Filipino Language, Literature, Arts & Culture, no. 8, pp. 56-84.
- Bobis, M 2021, 'Ménage à Trois of Tongues (A Trilingual Homecoming)', Coolabah, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 128-133.
- Bobis, M 2020, 'Air', Australian Poetry Journal, vol 10.1, pp. 102-103
- Bobis, M 2020, 'Bignonia Rosa' in Meridian. The APWT (Asia Pacific Writers & Translators) Drunken Boat Anthology of New Writing, pp. 124-126
- Bobis, M 2020, 'Wellspring in Alfacar', Australian Poetry Journal, vol 8.1, pp. 142-145
- Bobis, M 2019, 'word gifts for an australian critic', 'going ethnic', 'first night', 'Double-Crossed', 'Grandmother and the Border' in To Gather Your Leaving. Asian Diaspora Poetry from America, Australia, UK & Europe, Ethos Books, Singapore, pp. 327-336
- Bobis, M 2018, ''Aesth-ethics': Meeting the Other', in Text: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses, no. 53, pp. 16pp.
- Bobis, M 2018, 'Locating Legazpi: Herstory', in Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writings, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 41-54.
- Bobis, M 2017, 'Subversive Translation and Lexical Empathy: Pedagogies of Cortesia and Transnational Multilingual Poetics', in Belen Martin-Lucas and Andrea Ruthven (ed.), Narratives of Difference in Globalized Cultures: Reading Transnational Cultural Commodities, Palgrave Macmillan Ltd, United Kingdom, pp. 13-35pp.
- Bobis, M 2017, 'O Daphne Down', in Nessa O'Mahony and Paul Munden (ed.), Metamorphic: 21st century poets respond to Ovid, Recent Work Press, Canberra Australia, pp. 14-16.
- Bobis, M 2017, Accidents of Composition (Poetry collection). Spinifex Melbourne, Australia
- Bobis, M 2017, Mujer Pelo-Pez (Novel: Spanish translation of Fish Hair Woman). Jacqueline Nanfito, Enrique Luengo, Dolores Herrero (trans.), JC Saez, Santiago, Chile
- Bobis, M 2017, 'Salba Istorya/Salba Buhay: Save Story/Save Lives. Collaborative Storying in the Wake of Typhoons', in Collett, Anne, McDougall, Russell, Thomas, Sue (ed.), Tracking the Literature of Tropical Weather: Typhoons, Hurricanes, and Cyclones, Palgrave Macmillan Ltd, United Kingdom, pp. 151-176pp.
- Bobis, M 2017, States of Poetry 2017 - ACT: 'An argument in glass'.
- Bobis, M 2017, States of Poetry 2017 - ACT: T'he colour of eyes'.
- Bobis, M 2017, States of Poetry 2017 - ACT: 'After Reming'.
- Bobis, M 2017, States of Poetry 2017 - ACT: 'After the Grand Canyon'.
- Bobis, M 2017, States of Poetry 2017 - ACT: 'Lucy afloat'.
- Bobis, M 2016, 'Tahao/Middle Road: From Imagining Nation to Embodying Transnation', in Plaridel, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 46-70.
- Bobis, M & Martin-Lucas, B, eds, 2016, The Transnational Story Hub: Between Self and Other, Centre d'Estudis Australians, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
- Bobis, M 2015, Locust Girl. A Lovesong (Novel). Spinifex Press, Melbourne Australia
- Bobis, M, Crawford, J, Neave, L et al 2015, 'Imagine Water: An Archipelago of Mini-Essays on Water as Geography, Resource and Metaphor', Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writings, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 109-125.
- Bobis, M 2015, River, River (Play), in Translating Southeast Asia, Moving Worlds, Vol 15.1, pp47-63.
- Bobis, M 2014, '"Weeping is Singing": After the War, a Transnational Lament', in S. Perera and S. H. Razack (ed.), At the Limits of Justice: Women of Colour on Terror, University of Toronto Press, Canada, pp. 237-262.
- Bobis, M 2013, Water-Earth (3 poems - Water Trail / Funeral of the River /The Flowers That Would Not Open), in Peril Magazine, pp. 1-6.
- Bobis, M 2013, 'Confounding light: subversion and transnational sympathy', Social Identities, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 145-157.
- Bobis, M 2011, 'Passion to pasyon: playing militarism', in Dolores Herrero and Sonia Baelo-Allue (ed.), The Splintered Glass. Facets of Trauma in the Post-Colony and Beyond, Editions Rodopi, Amsterdam, pp. 57-80.
- Bobis, M 2012, Fish-Hair Woman (Novel). Spinifex Press, Melbourne Australia
- Bobis, M 2010, 'This is where it begins', in Asian Australia & Asian America: Making Transational Connections. Spec. issue of Amerasia Journal 36.2.
- Bobis, M & Herrero, D 2010, 'Sensing and Sensibility: The Late Ripple of Colonisation? A Conversation between Author and Translator', Kunapipi: journal of postcolonial writing, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 225-241.
- Bobis, M & Herrero, D 2010, 'Mujer Pelo-Pez' (Short story: Spanish translation of 'Fish-Hair Woman'), in Kunapipi: Journal of Postcolonial Writing and Culture (2010).
- Bobis, M 2010, 'The Asian conspiracy: deploying voice/deploying story', Australian Literary Studies, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 1-19.
- Bobis, M 2009, 'Storying: dream and deployment', Social Identities, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 85-94.
- Bobis, M 2009, 'Coffee Grove', Social Identities, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 95-97.
- Bobis, M 2009, 'The Sweetest Potato', World Literature Today, vol. 83, no. 1, pp. 32-35.
- Bobis, M 2008, 'Hush, I know a story you don't know', in Wet Ink, Issue 13.
- Bobis, M 2008, 'Corazon de Lorca' (Ficto-documentary). Airplay, ABC Radio.
- Bobis, M 2008, 'Voice-Niche-Brand: marketing Asian-Australianness', Australian Humanities Review, vol. 45, pp. 119-125.
- Bobis, M 2008, 'Two Voices: Writing the Body', in The Sun Times, Singapore, pp. 37-37.
- Bobis, M 2008, The Solemn Lantern Maker (Novel). Pier 9, Murdoch Books Australia
- Bobis, M 2006, 'Cantata Crossing Borders', in S. Macarthur, B. Crossman and R. Morelos (ed.), Intercultural Music: Creation and Interpretation, Australian Music Centre, Australia, pp. 76-82.
- Latukefu, L, Bobis, M & Munro, I 2006, 'Daragang Magayon Cantata' (Collaborative stage performance), Lennox Theatre, Sydney, 29 April.
- Bobis, M, Latukefu, L & Bitabara Family, B 2006, River, River (2006). Radio play, ABC Radio.
- Bobis, M 2005, 'Food, Precious Food: Migrating the Palate', Kunapipi: journal of postcolonial writing, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 10-17.
- Bobis, M 2005, 'The Making-Better Herb', Postcolonial Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 19-22.
- Bobis, M 2005, Banana Heart Summer (Novel). Pier 9, Murdoch Books Australia
- Bobis, M 2004, 'Power and the Migrant Story', 2004 World Congress, Human Movements & Immigration, Conference Organising Committee, Spain, p. 4.
- Bobis, M 2004, A Novel-In-Waiting: Creative Research: Towards Writing Fiction, University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, The Philippines.
- Bobis, M 2004, Pag-Uli, Pag-Uwi, Homecoming. Poetry in Three Tongues (Poetry collection). University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, Manila.
- Bobis, M 2003, 'Border Lover', in Luise A Igloria (ed.), Not Home But Here: Writing from the Filipino Diaspora, Anvil Publishing, Philippines, pp. 118-137.
- Bobis, M & Ulman, J, 2002, The Covenant Poetry Soundscape: composed around a poetic text. ABC Radio
- Bobis, M 2001, Serenada pre Serenu (Slovakian radio production of play 'Ms. Serena Serenata'.
- Bobis, M & Penones, F 2001, Kantada ni Daragang Magayon, Mandirigma' (Cantata of Daragang Magayon, Warrior).
- Bobis, M 2001, The Kissing (Short story collection). Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco USA
- Bobis, M 2000, 'Shoes', in Babaylan: an Anthology of Filipina and Filipina American Writers, aunt lute books, San Francisco.