Dean Francis Alfar
Dean Francis Alfar, is a Filipino playwright, novelist and writer of speculative fiction. His plays have been performed in venues across the country, while his articles and fiction have been published both in his native Philippines and abroad, such as in Strange Horizons, Rabid Transit, The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror and the Exotic Gothic series.
He is the author of the novel Salamanca, as well as three collections of short fiction - The Kite of Stars and other stories, How to Traverse Terra Incognita, and A Field Guide to the Roads of Manila.
His literary awards include ten Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature — including the Grand Prize for Novel — as well as the Manila Critics' Circle National Book Awards for the graphic novels Siglo: Freedom and Siglo: Passion, and the Philippines Free Press Literary Award.
He was a fellow at the 1992 Dumaguete National Writers Workshop as well as the 20th and 48th UP National Writers Workshop.
He is an advocate of the literature of the fantastic, editing the Philippine Speculative Fiction series, as well as a comic book creator and a blogger.
Alfar is also an entrepreneur — running several businesses. He lives in Manila with his wife, fictionist Nikki Alfar and their two daughters.
Awards
Philippine Graphic Fiction Awards- 2010 - Prose
- 2008 - Literature
Memorial Awards for Literature
- 2007 - for short story for Children
- 2006 - for short story for Children
- 2005 - for the novel
- 2004 - for futuristic fiction
- 2004 - for one-act play
- 2003 - for one-act play
- 1994 - for full-length play
- 1994 - for one-act play
- 1991 - for one-act play
- 1990 - for one-act play
- 2006- Best Comic Book
- 2004- Best Comic Book
- 2007 - for short story
- 31st National Writers' Workshop, Dumaguete - Writing Fellow
- 20th U.P. National Writers' Workshop - Writing Fellow
- 48th U.P. National Writers' Workshop - Writing Fellow
Works
Books
- Salamanca, Ateneo de Manila University Press, April 2006. Grand Prize Winner for Novel, Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, 2005.
- The Kite of Stars and Other Stories, Anvil Publishing, 2007.
- How to Traverse Terra Incognita, Visprint, 2014.
- A Field Guide to the Roads of Manila, Anvil Publishing, 2015.
- How Rosang Taba Won A Race, Lampara Books, 2012.
- Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 1, Kestrel, December 2005.
- Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 2, Kestrel, December 2006.
- Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 3, Kestrel, December 2007.
- Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 4, Kestrel, February, 2009.
- Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 8, Flipside Books, July 2013.
- The Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction 2005 - 2010, UP Press, February 2013. ; ebook, Flipside, July 2013
- The Farthest Shore: An Anthology of Fantasy Fiction from the Philippines, UP Press, August 2013.
- VOLUME One, Anvil, 2013.
- Horror: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults, UP Press, 2013.
Short Fiction
- “Terminos” forthcoming in The Time Traveller's Almanac, edited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer, Tor/Head of Zeus
- “Enkantong-bato” forthcoming in Bestiary, edited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer
- “Jianghu” forthcoming in Lakeside Circus
- “Glove & Goggles” in Philippines Graphic, July 2013
- “Things” in Querida: An Anthology, edited by Caroline Hau, Katrina Tuvera and Isabelita O. Reyes, June 2013
- “Remembrance” in Manila Envelope 4, edited by Jessica Zafra, April 2013
- “The Kite of Stars ” in Hoard of Thunder: Philippine Short Stories in English Volume II 2001 to 2008, edited by Gemino H Abad, U.P. Press, January 2013
- “Notes on an Ascent” in Thursday Never Looking Back, edited by Adam David, Youth & Beauty Brigade, December 2012
- “Ohkti” in Philippines Graphic, November 2012
- “A Field Guide to the Streets of Manila” in Esquire Philippines, November 2012
- “” in Philippine Genre Stories, October 2012
- “” in Apex Magazine 41, October 2012
- “” in Expanded Horizons, September 2012
- “Azamgal” in , Flipside, August 2012
- “Securing Doors from Fathers” in , Flipside, August 2012
- “East of the Sun” in Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 7, edited by Alexander Osias and Kate Osias
- “” in Philippines Free Press, April 2012
- “The Girl with the Gun” in Philippines Graphic, March 26, 2012
- “The Malaya” in Diaspora Ad Astra, edited by Joseph Nacino & Emil Flores, Estranghero Press, January 2012
- "A Door Opens: The Beginning of the Fall of the Ispancialo-in-Hinirang ” by Salahuddin Alonto, Annotated by Omar Jamad Maududi, MLS, HOL, JMS" in Alternative Alamat, edited by Paolo Chikiamco, Rocket Kapre Books, 2011
- “” in Philippines Free Press, December 2011
- “” in Philippines Genre Stories, October 2011
- “The Fortune-teller's Beautiful Daughter” in Philippines Graphic, July 2011
- “” in Philippines Free Press, June 2011
- “Simon's Replica” in Philippines Free Press, May 2010
- “Bruhita” in Exotic Gothic III, edited by Danel Olson, Ash-Tree Press, 2009
- “” in Connecting Flights: Nineteen Filipinos Report From Elsewhere, edited by Ruel de Vera, Anvil, December 2009
- “” in Bewildering Stories, issue 366, January 2010
- “” in The Apex Book of World SF, edited by Lavie Tidhar, Apex 2009
- “Something Like That” in Growing Up Filipino II, edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, December 2009
- “How My Mother Flew” in Growing Up Filipino II, edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, December 2009
- “The Music Teacher” in Growing Up Filipino II, edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, December 2009
- “” in The Farthest Shore, edited by Joseph Nacino & Dean Francis Alfar, 2009; and in Philippine Speculative Fiction 5. edited by Nikki Alfar and Vincent Michael Simbulan
- “Messiah” in Dark Blue Southern Seas 2009, edited by F. Jordan Carnice, April 2009
- “Fallow's Flight” in A Time for Dragons, edited by Vincent Michael Simbulan, Anvil Fantasy, March 2009
- “Report HC-IK017785A-0097B-006 de Ocampo: Survey of Artifacts Found in the Derelict Vessel The Malaya” in Philippines Free Press, November 2008.
- “I, D.I." in Belonging: Stories of Relationships, edited by Erlinda Panlilio, Anvil, October 2008
- “Remembrance” in Exotic Gothic II, edited by Danel Olson, Ash-Tree Press, September 2008
- “The Maiden and the Crocodile” reprint in Bewildering Stories, September 2008.
- “The Many Loves of Ramil Alonzo” in Philippines Free Press, August 2008.
- “Sunboy” in Philippines Free Press, May 2008.
- “In the Dim Plane” in Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, April 2008.
- “The Middle Prince” in Tales of Fantasy and Enchantment, edited by Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, February 2008
- “An Excerpt from 'Princes of the Sultanate' ; Annotated by Omar Jamad Maududi, MLS, HOL, JMS” in Story Philippines, February 2008
- “Chasing Aurora" in Sunday Inquirer Magazine of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 2007.
- “Ever, After” in Philippines Free Press, August 2007.
- “” in Bewildering Stories, July 2007.
- “The Dragon in the Bell” in Philippines Free Press, June 2007.
- “Sabados con Fray Villalobos” in A la Carte; Food and Fiction, edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard and Marily Orosa.
- “” in Bewildering Stories, September 2006; Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, December 2006
- “How Rosang Taba Won A Race” in Philippines Free Press, July 2006.
- “Six From Downtown” in Philippines Free Press, June 2006; Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol.2
- “The Maiden and the Crocodile” in Story Philippines, March 2006.
- “Hollow Girl: A Romance” in Latitude: Writing from the Philippines and Scotland, edited by Angelo Rodriguez Lacuesta and Toni Davidson.
- “Four-letter Words” in Manual, January 2006.
- “Terminos” in Rabid Transit : Menagerie,.
- “” in Strange Horizons, January 2003; in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror Seventeenth Annual Collection, edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin Grant ; and in Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. 1, edited by Dean Francis Alfar.
- “Gumamela” in ab ovo 2.
- “Ser Clessidrana Acerca Tiempo ” in Hinirang.com, 2002.
- “” in Stuff Magazine, May 2001.
- “Spark: The Sad and Strange Tale of Sister Maria Dolores, the Nun who Exploded” in National Midweek, 1992.
- “The Last Mermaid Story” in National Midweek, 1992.
- “The Secret Measure” in National Midweek, 1992.
- “Magan & Balo” in Mr. & Ms. Magazine, 1991.
Comic Books
- Siglo: Passion, edited by Dean Francis Alfar & Vincent Michael Simbulan.
- The Craft Century in, edited by Elbert Or & Andrew Drilon.
- Invitation in K.I.A., edited by Marco Dimaano.
- Quad in Hey Comics!, edited by Ramon de Veyra, 2004.
- Siglo: Freedom, edited by Dean Francis Alfar & Vincent Michael Simbulan.
- Ab Ovo 1, 2, edited by Dean Francis Alfar.
- The Lost 1, 2. Kestrel, 2001.