Renato Renato
BIO
Biography

Renato Gandia is a Filipino-Canadian poet, fiction and nonfiction writer based in Calgary, Alberta. His writing explores migration, faith, queerness, family, labour and the complicated ways we make and remake home.

He is the recipient of the 2026 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers for poetry and was mentored by Billy-Ray Belcourt through the award’s mentorship program. His poem “Sandali” won the 2026 War of the Words poetry competition.

Renato’s debut poetry collection, Eating Rice, On Our Feet, will be published by Frontenac House in spring 2027. His memoir, Unpriesting: A Memoir of Faith, Desire and Becoming, is forthcoming from Freehand Books in fall 2027. 

Born and raised in the Philippines, Renato immigrated to Canada as an adult. His work is shaped by the languages, silences, rituals and contradictions carried across borders, and by his experience of building a life between cultures, faiths and ways of belonging.

ADDRESS
City: Calgary, Province/Territory: Alberta
EMAIL
GENRE
Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction
LANGUAGES
English
PUBLICATIONS
Publications
Title
Unpriesting
Publisher
Freehand Books
Year
2027
Title
Eating Rice, On Our Feet
Publisher
Frontenac House
Year
2027
AWARDS
Awards
Name
Psalmody for the Estranged
Publication
Writers' Trust RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers (Poetry)
Year
2026
Name
A Brief Theory of Enough
Publication
PRISM International - Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize
Year
2025
Name
Sandali
Publication
War of the Words, When Words Collide 2026
Year
2026
LINKS
Links
renatogandia.com
EQUITY INITIATIVE
As part of the Union’s Equity Implementation Plan, we are committed to increasing awareness of authors who are Black, Indigenous, racialized, LGBTQI2S, or living with a disability. This author identifies as:
Members who identify as:
Black, Indigenous, and/or racialized
LGBTQI2S
Programs & Interests
Interested in participating Union’s Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program:
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Interested in participating in the Northern Ontario WITS program:
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