Louie Jon Agustin Sanchez


Louie Jon Agustin Sanchez, a poet, fictionist, critic, and journalist, hails from Flora, Apayao, Philippines. He lives in Novaliches, Caloocan City, in Metro Manila.
He has won prizes including three "Makata ng Taon " honors from the state-run Gawad Komisyon sa Tula-Gantimpalang Collantes of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino. He has also won an award for his fiction from the Catholic Mass Media Awards, given out yearly by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila.

Life

A son of a professional electrical engineer from Baliuag, Bulacan and a fitness trainer from Abulog, Cagayan, Sanchez was born on 29 October 1980 in Sta. Mesa, Manila. He grew up in homes in San Juan City in Manila, where his parents started their family, and much later on, in Bagong Barrio, Caloocan City. He now lives in Novaliches, Caloocan City.

Education

Educated in Catholic schools all throughout his boyhood, he finished high school at the Notre Dame of Greater Manila in Grace Park, Caloocan City, before entering the University of Santo Tomas. At Santo Tomas, he enrolled at the Faculty of Arts and Letters, intending to major in communication arts. However, his stint at The Varsitarian, the official student publication, convinced him to shift to journalism. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in 2002. He took an MFA in Creative Writing at De La Salle University, where he is also currently enrolled as a PhD Literature student.

Career

A few months after graduating, he worked as editorial assistant for Gospel Komiks, published by the Communication Foundation for Asia. After two years, in 2004, he was taken in as supplement writer by the Philippines Graphic. While in the magazine, he helped run the Philippines Graphic-Nick Joaquin Literary Awards, one of the most prestigious prizes for Filipino fiction writers in English. The owners of the Philippines Graphic in 2006 opened a business paper, the Business Mirror. He is one of the pioneers of the paper, and he handled the business development department. In 2007, he started teaching literature and creative writing at De La Salle University-Manila, where he finished his master of fine arts in creative writing, with high distinction.
He is a member of the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo, an organization of poets writing in the Filipino language.
He was consulting editor of Asian Journal Publications, and associate editor of Balikbayan Magazine. He still reports for the Philippines Graphic.

Published works

Books

At Sa Tahanan ng Alabok: Mga Tula, UST Publishing House, 2010

In anthologies

Poetry