Douglas James Limpe Candano holds a BA in Development Studies from the Ateneo de Manila University (Development Studies Departmental Award, Loyola Schools Awards for the Arts in Fiction), and a Masters of Urban Planning degree from McGill University. His fiction has won several national level awards, including the Philippines Free Press Literary Award and the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature, and have been published and anthologized in numerous publications and books in the Philippines. He has also written for film and theater, co-writing Orphea, which premiered during the 2020 Berlinale, and Love is a Dog From Hell – the closing film of the 2022 Berlin Critics Week, as well as the maximalist musical Super Macho Anti Kristo! (SMAK!): A Headless 100-Act Opera to Mend All Broken Bicycles of the Universe According to Jarry and Rizal, which had a run at Berlin’s iconic Volksbühne Theater in 2022. Aside from a side career as one of the country’s top competitive eaters, he works as a freelance research consultant for development programs, having worked for initiatives of bilateral and multilateral development institutions, National Government Agencies, Corporate Foundations, and Civil Society Organizations. He lives in Metro Manila.