Maria Karina A. Bolasco

Maria is the Director of the Ateneo de Manila University Press (ADMU), cited Publisher of the Year in the last three consecutive years (2017-2019). She serves as Vice Chair for External Affairs of the Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP). She also sits on the boards of the Philippine PEN, Writers Union of the Philippines (UMPIL), and The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS). From 2011-2019, she sat as a Governor of the National Book Development Board (NBDB).

She ran Anvil Publishing from its inception in 1990 up to May 2016. Under her leadership, Anvil was awarded Publisher of the Year eleven times and 205 of its titles won the National Book Award. She was the 2004 grantee of the Asia Leadership Fellow Program, hosted by international House of Japan (Tokyo) and the Japan Foundation. In March 2005, she was the Philippine delegate to the month-long International Visitors Program for Women Leaders organized and hosted by the US State Department. In 2019, she completed a 6-month fellowship at Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS). She was awarded in 1995 The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) for Literacy and Book Publishing.