Joi Barrios

Maria Josephine Barrios, popularly known as Joi Barrios, is a poet, activist, scriptwriter, actress, translator and teacher. Born in 1962, she completed her Ph.D. in Philippine Literature at the University of the Philippines (UP). She taught at the University and also served as an Associate for Fiction at the UP Likhaan: Creative Writing Center. She has won various honors and awards, including the Palanca Award, the most prestigious literary award in the Philippines. During the Marcos dictatorship and the tumultuous years that followed, she became well-known as a freedom activist and rally poet. She has taught in Korea, Japan, and is currently working as a visiting Professor at the University of California, Irvine. Her works include Ang Pagiging Babae ay Pamumuhay sa Panahon ng Digma (1990); Bailaya: Mga Dula Para sa Kababaihan (1997); Minatamis at iba pang Tula ng Pag-ibig (1998); and Prince Charming at iba pang Nobelang Romantiko (2001). Virgilio Almario, one of the best recognized literary critics and a scholar of Filipino poetry, has stated that Barrios is one of only four recognizable women poets in Philippine literature.