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Born in Hong Kong, Nicola Sebastian is a Filipino writer, surfer, and National Geographic Explorer. She is interested in “islandness,” both as space and sensibility. Her work has been published in Orion Magazine, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and Suspect Journal. Nicola graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, where she was the managing editor of the Columbia Journal and taught fiction writing to undergraduates. She lives in La Union, Philippines, where she cofounded Emerging Islands, a coastal-based arts-for-ecology collective that brings together artists, environmentalists, and grassroots communities to co-create and decolonise stories of the Philippine islands. She is working on an ecological memoir on disaster, discovery, and the Philippines.
In what ways does nature inspire or inform your work?
I believe that the Earth is the storyteller and we are the story. And that when we are moved to create, we are listening to something deeper, older, and vaster than we can ever individually imagine.
What does it mean to you to be part of a thriving ecosystem?
It means a lot of things, but first and last, for me, it means to be at home. And that happens when we remember the ways that we are connected, when we help make each other feel safe, seen, and free.
