Andrea Pasion-Flores

From WikiPilipinas: The Hip 'n Free Philippine Encyclopedia

Maria Andrea Pasion-Flores is a Philippine contemporary writer in English, and the author of bestselling book Have Baby Will Date, published by Summit Media. Her works have since been included in several important Philippine publications and anthologies. She is a lawyer by profession and at present, Executive Director of the National Book Development Board, a government agency dedicated to the improvement of policies in the Philippine book publishing industry.

1 Education
2 Career
3 See Also
4 References
5 External Link
6 Citation

[edit] Education

Andrea Pasion studied high school at Assumption College in Makati City and finished her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. It was also from the said institution that she earned her Bachelor of Laws and Masters Degree in English Studies, majoring in Creative Writing. She was admitted to the bar in 2003.

[edit] Career

Andrea has had a flourishing career with one of the biggest magazine publishers in the country, Summit Media. In the mid-2000s, she became Managing Editor of Bride and Home magazine, and then moved on to Cosmopolitan Magazine, the local franchise of the famed Hearst Corporation publication. In 2005, she became Associate Editor of Good Housekeeping magazine.

In 2006, she was appointed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as Executive Director of the National Book Development Board, along with Deputy Executive Director Frances Jeanne Sarmiento. Substantial changes in the agency have been visible under her administration. In 2007, the 11th Philippine Book Development Month had its biggest celebration, conducting activities with award-winning writers and holding week long exhibits in different malls, with the theme Love Your Books. Andrea also spearheaded the creation of the NBDB Book Club, a group which meets monthly to discuss Philippine-authored books with the authors themselves.

Pursuing a graduate degree in Creative Writing after already having been admitted to the Philippine Bar was proof of Andrea's dedication to writing and literature. She was a fellow to the Dumaguete National Writers Workshop in 1996, and her works have been part of several publications since, including the LIKHAAN Anthology of Poetry and Fiction, Fast Food Fiction: Short Stories to go, edited by Noelle Q. De Jesus, and just recently, Very Short Stories for Harried Readers, edited by Vicente Garcia Groyon. Her first book, Have Baby Will Date, published by Summit Media in September 2004, sold more than 10,000 copies, along with her contemporary, Tara FT Sering's Almost Married.

Andrea continues to practice law, volunteering for the social welfare program, Bantay Bata. She specializes in family law.