jade mark capiñanes is a palanca-winning filipino writer. he is the author of the novel not in the mood for love (2026).
bio
jade mark capiñanes is a filipino essayist and fictionist. he is the author of the novel not in the mood for love (2026) and the flash fiction collection how to grieve (2022).his essay “a portrait of a young man as a banak” won third prize in the essay category of the don carlos palanca memorial awards for literature in 2017. his essay “a personal history of sea urchins” bagged the same award in 2024. both essays are collected in his zine a personal history of sea creatures (2024).in 2025 his novel not in the mood for love received a publication grant from the national book development board, and his story “there’s so much air everywhere” was nominated for the pushcart prize. his poems were finalists in the 2024 and 2025 santelmo pambansang hamon sa pagtula.he has been a fellow at several writing workshops: the university of the philippines national writers workshop (2025, novella), iyas la salle national writers workshop (2023, poetry), ateneo national writers workshop (2019, creative nonfiction), university of santo tomas national writers workshop (2017, creative nonfiction), and davao writers workshop (2016, creative nonfiction).he earned his bachelor’s degree in english from mindanao state university in general santos city, where he also received the university distinction in journalism and the award for best thesis in literature. he is now pursuing a master of fine arts in creative writing at de la salle university in manila on a full scholarship.born and raised in davao city, he currently serves as president of the davao writers guild, which curates the literary journal dagmay and hosts literary events across davao and nearby regions.outside his literary writing, in hopes of being called a humorist, he posts silly stuff on his facebook account about philippine politics and pop culture and other minor concerns, for better or for worse.
interviews and other resourcesno one to deliver you by jade mark capiñanes
panitikan ph, september 2025problematic and incredibly flawed
panitikan ph, august 2025creators spotlight with jade mark capiñanes
read pinoy, november 2024nagmahal, nasaktan, nagsulat with jade mark capiñanes
the linya-linya show, february 2024on writing mindanao fictions
dagmay, april 2023mindanao: writing the self and indie publishing
the indie publishers collab, november 2022how eating jolly spaghetti can be a form of grieving, according to fictionist jade mark capiñanes
ancx, september 2022reading texts featuring jade mark capiñanes
ustinig, may 2022southern authors no. 7: jade mark capiñanes on the essay zine, writings from region 12, and the cotabato literary journal
payag habagatan, january 2018the thoughts of a young man as a banak
yadu karu, september 2017
latest books
not in the mood for love (2026)
available @ everything’s fine
view on goodreadswhat does it mean to tell the same story over and over and over again? taking its title and central obsession from wong kar-wai’s film about unconsummated desire, not in the mood for love by jade mark capiñanes circles the wreckage of infidelity through varied forms: shitposts from a fictional facebook group called “pinoy kabetposting,” riffs on olivia rodrigo and taylor swift, a mock-academic paper on adultery in colonial philippines, love letters that might have been sent too late, and footnotes, one of which is so sprawling it threatens to swallow the book whole. written mostly in lowercase taglish, this darkly comic novel revisits the same questions about desire and betrayal from every angle, as if one more revision might finally get the confession right.as featured incool manila: 25 of the coolest spots to visit, things to do, stuff to get in the city now
spot.ph, april 2026
how to grieve (2025, originally published in 2022)
available @ everything’s fine
view on goodreadsthe short stories in how to grieve walk the reader through the sometimes funny, often absurd, necessarily strange acts of dealing with grief, in the process showing the humanity of loss and sadness, humor and laughter.as featured in10 books to cozy up at the 2025 philippine book festival
rolling stone philippines, march 2025captivating short story and essay collections to get you back into reading
rappler, january 2023the 6 best filipino books of 2022
cnn philippines, december 2022our 36 favorite filipino books of 2022
esquire philippines, december 20226 new filipino books to read before the year ends
tatler asia, october 2022there’s grief in eating “jolly” spaghetti, as a new short story collection asserts
the philippine star, september 2022eight new filipino books to check out
cnn philippines, september 2022
how to become a filipino writer (2025)
available @ everything’s fine
view on goodreadsin jade mark capiñanes’s latest listicle tour de farce how to become a filipino writer, the tremendously self-aware humorist comes back swinging, outpacing his own effacement in this affectively rendered series of sketches of silly awkward ventures in romantic tension and misfired “tito-joke” witticisms. deliberately unmindful, brimming with charming abrasiveness, capiñanes’s observational agility belies what is really at the heart of his storytelling: a biting rendition of how to write in a place you must, in all its tender corniness, strive to love.
a personal history of sea creatures (2024)
available @ everything’s fine
view on goodreadsa personal history of sea creatures collects jade mark capiñanes’s two palanca-winning essays (“a portrait of a young man as a banak” and “a personal history of sea urchins”) and one flash essay (“two halves don’t make a whole”).
all books
| title | genre | publisher | year |
|---|---|---|---|
| not in the mood for love (novel edition) | fiction | everything’s fine | 2026 |
| letters to joella | essay | self-published | 2026 |
| how to become a filipino writer | fiction | everything’s fine | 2025 |
| how to grieve (third anniversary edition) | fiction | everything’s fine | 2025 |
| no one’s ever really gone | essay | self-published | 2024 |
| a personal history of sea creatures | essay | everything’s fine | 2024 |
| not in the mood for love (stories edition) | fiction | self-published | 2023 |
| here as well as there | fiction | self-published | 2022 |
| how to grieve (yellow and red edition) | fiction | everything’s fine | 2022 |
| how to grieve (og edition) | fiction | self-published | 2020 |
| digital loves | fiction | self-published | 2020 |
| nazi literature in the philippines | humor | self-published | 2018 |
| vince & kath & derrida (1 & 2) | humor | self-published | 2017 |
other books
| title | role | publisher | year |
|---|---|---|---|
| the best of dagmay 3 | editor | national commission for culture and the arts | 2026 |
| hanggahan at pagtula | contributor (“the opposite of cartography”) | san anselmo press | 2025 |
| davao harvest 3 | contributor (“a portrait of a young man as a banak”) | national commission for culture and the arts | 2018 |
| young blood six | contributor (“children of the sea”) | inquirer books | 2017 |
selected writings
essaywhy do statues of saints in the san agustin museum have missing hands?
the archipelago press, january 2026what can poetry teach us about natural disasters?
esquire philippines, november 2025some forever, hopefully for better
dadiangas review, june 2021politics and peanuts
new mandala, april 2019a portrait of a young man as a banak
cotabato literary journal, january 2017fictionthere’s so much air everywhere
moonpark review, september 2024nazi literature in the philippines: a critical overview
kill list chronicles, january 2018poetrybioluminescence
katitikan, july 2024hermit hearts
dagmay, april 2024humortop 10 books to read when you’re stuck at the icc
esquire philippines, march 2025cheating in spanish-era philippines: a time traveler’s guide
spot.ph, december 2024i’m against divorce because i’m sure my wife will leave me
spot.ph, may 2024
all writings
contact
feel free to email me.you may also connect with me on facebook, instagram, substack, and goodreads.