Biography

Susan Claire Agbayani is a freelance print and online journalist based in Manila. She has been writing about arts and culture, lifestyle and entertainment (music and film) for four decades now. She started writing stories about the environment in 2016, and has since contributed to BusinessWorld, Mongabay.com, Rappler, philstar.com and philstarlife.com.

Among the environmental topics she has written about are the documentary film Bird of Prey, about the Philippine eagle; reclamation of Manila Bay and of an airport complex north of Manila; migratory marine species in the Calamianes island group (CIG) in Palawan, Philippines; and the shift of CIG to renewable energy in a post-Malampaya scenario.

She has been the recipient of writing grants from Internews-Earth Journalism Network (EJN), Ashoka Southeast Asia, Climate Tracker Asia and Probe Media Foundation. She was also a member of the inaugural Philippine cohort of the Environmental Data Journalism Academy, organized by Thibi and Internews EJN.

She is currently working on her first two books, which are anthologies of her feature articles on the Philippine music scene. She is also writing her master's thesis on migrant Filipino musicians for her MFA in Creative Writing at the De La Salle University Manila.

She also organizes creative writing workshops for beginners; and does online selling of natural, organic, and sustainable produce from farmers, fishers, women's cooperatives and NGOs.

Here are links to some of her stories:

https://www.rappler.com/environment/indigenous-women-protect-migratory-marine-species-calamianes-islands-palawan/

https://www.rappler.com/environment/preventing-illegal-unreported-unregulated-fishing-marine-ecosystems-intact-calamianes-islands-palawan/

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/climate-and-environment/2023/01/05/2235511/palawan-town-near-malampaya-gas-field-sees-brighter-future-renewables