is a fearless, sensual, and intellectually adventurous romantic fictionist, someone who dares to walk the unlit corridors of desire, memory, taboo, and beauty. Her writing celebrates human love in its rawest, most lyrical forms.
Cymbeline graduated with AB Literature from Far Eastern University in Manila. She took up post graduate subjects in Literature and creative writing at the Ateneo de Manila University. She was writing fellow in the National Writers' Workshop - University of the Philippines (1976).
Her novels Ang Maghuhurno and Lovers in Kyoto; short stories "Total Resistance Extreme" and "My Lover is a Robot" were published by 8Letters Bookstore & Publishing in 2023.
Cymbeline Villamin's works are a blend of genres, often exploring themes of femininity, desire, and transcendence. Some of her notable works include:
• The Witch of Pontevedra: A lyrical and sensual novella that combines elements of myth, science, and spirituality to tell the story of two women's journeys towards transcendence. This work is characterized by its poetic and experimental style, challenging the borders between reality and the metaphysical.
• Pentirsi- Stories of Repentance: An anthology of interwoven tales that explore spiritual awakening among women scarred by longing, aging, and betrayal. These stories probe the relationship between the wounded self and the divine, often blurring the lines between love and spirituality.
• My Healing Journey: A personal account of Villamin's experience with breast cancer, detailing her emotional progression from despair to hope and spiritual rebirth as she navigated alternative and standard treatments.
• Lovers Between Worlds: A speculative romance novella that reconfigures female desire as a locus of transformation, suggesting that longing, betrayal, and love can be portals to new paths of transcendence.
Villamin's writing style is often described as--
• Earthy and mystical, with a focus on the sensual and the unknown
• Unapologetically sensual, treating erotic passages with reverence
• Experimental and poetic, mirroring the fragmentation and disorientation of her characters' experiences
As a writer, Villamin brings a unique perspective shaped by her background as a science research specialist at the Department of Science and Technology. Her poetics is expounded in her scholarly work, “Writing as An Adventure” published in Philippine Studies in 2005 by the Ateneo de Manila University.
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