Jude Ortega grew up and lives in Kulaman Plateau in southern Philippines. He has worked as a writer and editor in various fields, from technical to creative and from voluntary to commissioned.
He is the author of Seekers of Spirits, published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2018 and winner of the Cirilo F. Bautista Prize for Best Book of Short Fiction in English at the 38th Philippine
National Book Awards.
His literary work has also appeared in online and print publications,
including Likhaan: The Journal of
Contemporary Philippine Literature, and in anthologies, including Mindanao Harvest 4, The Best of Dagmay 2, and Brown
Child: The Best of the Faigao Poetry and Fiction 1984–2012.
In 2015, his short stories received
honorable mention at the F. Sionil José Young Writers Awards and honorable mention at the Philippines
Graphic Nick Joaquin Literary Awards.
He has been a fellow for fiction in six writers
workshops, including the 55th University of the Philippines National Writers
Workshop (2016), the 53rd Silliman University National Writers Workshop (2014),
and the 20th Iligan National Writers Workshop (2013), where his manuscript won
first place at the Jimmy Y. Balacuit Literary Awards.
Ten of his essays
were published in the Youngblood column of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He has also written a travel article on
a cave in his hometown for Smile, the
in-flight magazine of Cebu Pacific.
From 2016 to 2021, he engaged with his region's literary community as an editor of the online publication Cotabato Literary Journal, the admin of the Facebook page Sulat SOX, and a co-organizer of spoken word events, among other functions.
The blogger sometimes posts updates about his interests on the Facebook page Seeker of Stories. He may be reached at rj2ortega@gmail.com.
The blogger sometimes posts updates about his interests on the Facebook page Seeker of Stories. He may be reached at rj2ortega@gmail.com.
