Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez was born and raised in Manila, where she grew up steeped in her family’s colourful personalities and stranger-than-fiction stories. She developed a love for philosophy, modern classics, and drama in university. She then worked in the advertising industry, honing her craft as a copywriter, and later became associate creative director. She spent a good part of her twenties trekking around the Philippines, sampling regional food, and experiencing the joie de vivre and hospitality of her fellow Filipinos from Batanes to Mindanao.

She moved to Canada in the mid-nineties, worked as a technical designer for a Canadian fashion retailer, and won a design competition at the Toronto Design Exchange. She currently works as a communications professional.

She studied creative writing at the University of Toronto and has published poetry in Variety Crossing, as well as online publications. Her debut novel Celestina’s House will be published in September 2024 by Rare Machines, an imprint of Dundurn Press.

When she’s not writing, she likes to keep the memories of Philippine kitchens alive in her home in South Etobicoke, where she cocoons with her spouse and teenage daughter as they plot their next family adventure.