Vida Cruz-Borja
Filipina author
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vida Cruz-Borja (née Cruz) is a Filipina author of essays, short stories, and long-form fiction.
Vida Cruz-Borja | |
|---|---|
| Born | Vida Cruz |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Speculative fiction |
| Notable works | Song of the Mango and Other New Myths |
| Notable awards | 2022 Ignyte Award for Outstanding Creative Nonfiction |
Career
In 2018, she was awarded a Tiptree Fellowship.[1]
Cruz-Borja published her first fantasy short story collection, Beyond the Line of Trees, in 2019.[2]
With the help of teammates L.D. Lewis, Brent Lambert, and Iori Kusano, Cruz-Borja established FIYAHCON. This event, hosted by FIYAH Literary Magazine, honors Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) writers.[2] For this, Cruz-Borja was a joint finalist for the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Related Work.[3] She became the fifth Filipino to be nominated for the award, and the first to be based in the Philippines.[2]
Her 2022 collection Song of the Mango and Other New Myths received critical attention. Zhui Ning Chang of the British Science Fiction Association called Cruz-Borja "a key voice in contemporary Philippine speculative fiction."[4] Kristy Wang of Strange Horizons wrote that the collection encapsulates the author's desire to build a better world, "and she threads this passion through her stories, whether they envision justness and equity on a societal level or within the life of an individual or individuals."[5]
In a review for the Daily Tribune, Amelia Clarissa de Luna Monasterial discussed Cruz-Borja's 2025 novella Mirror Marked. The reviewer praised the novella for its non-linear storytelling and multiple points of view. The reviewer also felt that the book's queer characters were well-developed and portrayed positively.[6]
Works
- Novellas
- Mirror Marked. PS Publishing. 1 August 2025. ISBN 9781803945262.
- Collections
- Beyond the Line of Trees. Self-published. 1 August 2019.
- Song of the Mango and Other New Myths. Ateneo de Manila University Press. 9 December 2022. ISBN 9786214482276.
- Short fiction
- "To Megan, with Half My Heart". The Silliman Journal. 52. Silliman University.
- "Odd and Ugly". Writers of the Future. 34. Galaxy Press. 2018.
- "Have Your #Hugot Harvested At This Diwata-Owned Cafe". Strange Horizons. May 2020.
- "Child of Two Worlds". The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. November–December 2022.
- Non-fiction
- "Activist SFF Isn’t Just About Good Intentions." The SFWA Bulletin, Winter/Spring 2021
- "We Are the Mountain: A Look at the Inactive Protagonist." Fantasy Magazine, August 2021
- Later collected in: Deepa Anappara; Taymour Soomro, eds. (9 March 2023). Letters to a Writer of Color. Vintage. ISBN 9781529115840.
- "Where Do Stories Begin?" Gabriela Lee; et al., eds. (1 January 2024). Mapping New Stars: A Sourcebook on Philippine Speculative Fiction. University of the Philippines Press. ISBN 9786210900668.
Awards and honors
Cruz-Borja was a joint finalist for the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Related Work, for FIYAHCON.[3] Her essay "We Are the Mountain: A Look at the Inactive Protagonist" won the 2022 Ignyte Award for Outstanding Creative Nonfiction.[7]