Miguel Syjuco, a contributing opinion writer of the International New York Times, is a novelist, journalist, and university professor from the Philippines. His debut novel "Ilustrado" was a NY Times Notable Book of 2010 as well as the winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize, the Hugh MacLennan Prize, the Palanca Award, and the Filipino Readers' Choice Award. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Practice, Literature, and Creative Writing at New York University Abu Dhabi. Both his fiction and non-fiction focus on politics, history, inequality, cultural identity, literature, and formal experimentation.