About JENO pineda, writer

I was born in the Philippines, in a small island called Mindoro. Like most Filipinos, my family was strictly Catholic and our idea of fun was going to mass every Sunday. In high school, I went to---what else---a Catholic institution ran by nuns where I played the piano very well but only because I was afraid of my teacher, Sister Gracia (may God bless her soul) , who used to whip my hand with a stick when I got the notes wrong. I was also the President of the Dramatics Club back then. Looking back, I think I knew at a young age that my whole existence is one big drama.

At seventeen, I moved to Manila for university and finished a degree in Communications Arts from the Lyceum University of the Philippines. I was a scholar and an honour student for two consecutive years until I discovered boys and shopping malls. I don't regret it though. Until today, I still love boys and shopping malls. 

I was part of the school newspaper both in high school and university.  For my graduation thesis, I wrote about LGBT literature in popular culture which left my professor confused as it was her first time to encounter a thesis about gay people. It was hilarious. After university, I worked as an agent for an American call centre, as a copywriter for an ad agency and finally as an editor for a travel magazine. 

In 2004, I travelled to Spain and after my two-week visa expired, I decided to stay. As an illegal immigrant I learned life the hard way. My comfortable and sheltered life in the Philippines became a mere memory as I found myself doing menial, odd and physically challenging jobs to survive. 

Still, I am grateful for all these experiences. They were life's essential lessons I had to learn to be the person I am today.

After eight years of not seeing my family, I was able to get my permanent residency in Spain and was able to go back to my country---oh, the joy, the tears and the food at a Filipino homecoming! It was one of the best moments of my life. 

In 2016, after twelve years of living in Spain, I finally achieved my Spanish citizenship. 

Today, I work as a freelance writer and journalist. My works have appeared in different publications in Spain including Sur in English Newspaper, Hot Magazine, Tout Magazine and Love2Fly, Iberia Airlines’ lifestyle website, amongst others.

As for my personal life, I identify as a transgender although like Fuji, the protagonist of my novel, I am also still in the process of transitioning. I am not particularly bothered by pronouns. You can call me he, she, they, it---I wouldn’t be offended. I have been through a lot in life and pronouns are the last thing in the world that can hurt me. However, if you see me with make-up and high heels on, I demand that you use she and her.

If Lana Del Rey is the 'Gangster Nancy Sinatra' of the music world, I would like to become the ‘Gangster Lana Del Rey’ of the literary world—bad, bold and brazen and yet still feminine, vulnerable and goddamn beautiful. I also want to be as great as the novelist Ian Mcewan but that one is even way too impossible to achieve. 

I currently reside in Spain where I live with Rexxi, my 12 year old dog. I consider him my child. I also hold a weekly talk show on Instagram. Follow me: @marbellastyle.

Miss Fuji in Transition is my first novel.