Bino Realuyo

Who is Bino Realuyo?

Bino A. Realuyo is a Filipino-American novelist, poet, community organizer and adult educator. He was born and raised in Manila, Philippines but spent most of his adult life in New York City. His acclaimed novel, The Umbrella Country published in 1999 by Ballantine Reader's Circle, Random House was included in Booklist's Top Ten First Novels of 1999. Upon release, the novel reached the #2 spot in the Philippines. The Umbrella Country was also a nominee for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great Writers Award 1999 and a recipient of the first Asian American "Members' Choice" Literary Award in the year 2000.

Realuyo's first poetry collection, The Gods We Worship Live Next Door won the 2005 Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry, selected by Grace Schulman, distinguished professor of English at Baruch College, City University of New York and poetry editor of The Nation. It was released by the University of Utah Press in March 2006. The Philippine edition of The Gods We Worship Live Next Door was released by Anvil Press in the Philippines in March, 2008, marking his very first book publication in his birth country. The Gods We Worship Live Next Door received a 2009 Philippine National Book Award.