Ian Rosales Casocot was born in Dumaguete City, Philippines in 17 August 1975 to Fermin Bernaldez Casocot and Fennie Malazarte Rosales. He graduated from Silliman University High School in 1993, and earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from the same university in 1999, after spending a year studying international relations, art history, and the art of the novel at the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan in 1996-1997. He earned his MA in English (Creative Writing) from Silliman in 2012, where he was faculty of the Department of English and Literature until 2020.

He began his literary career when he became fellow for fiction at the Silliman University National Writers Workshop in 2000. He was also a fellow at the Iligan National Writers Workshop in 2002, and the University of the Philippines National Writers Workshop in 2008.

He is the author of six collections of short stories, including Old Movies and Other Stories (NCCA, 2005) Beautiful Accidents (University of the Philippines Press, 2011), Heartbreak & Magic: Stories of Fantasy and Horror (Anvil, 2011), First Sight of Snow and Other Stories (Et Al Books, 2014), Don’t Tell Anyone: Literary Smut (Anvil, 2017), and Bamboo Girl: Stories and Poems from a Forgotten Life (Ateneo de Naga University Press, 2018). In 2021, Pinspired Philippines published his children’s book The Great Little Hunter. Another collection, Where You Are is Not Here, is forthcoming. Beautiful Accidents, his collection of stories with frank LGBT themes, was finalist for the National Book Award in 2012. Bamboo Girl was also a National Book Award finalist in 2012.

He is the recipient of five Palanca Awards [“Old Movies,” second prize for the short story in 2002; “The Hero of the Snore Tango,” second prize for the short story in 2003, “The Last Days of Magic,” third prize for the children’s story in 2007, “Things You Don’t Know,” first prize for the short story in 2008, and “It Always Breaks My Heart a Little to See You Go,” second prize for the short story in 2012), and an NVM Gonzalez Prize for his fiction [“Old Movies”], and his novel Sugar Land was long-listed in the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize. His children’s book Rosario and the Stories garnered him an honorable mention in the 2006 PBBY-Salanga Writer’s Prize. His stories “A Strange Map of Time” and “The Sugilanon of the Epefania’s Heartbreak” have also won the top prizes in the Fully-Booked/Neil Gaiman Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards, the only writer in the award’s history who has done so.

He has also authored the biography, Inday Goes About Her Day (Locsin Books, 2012), compiled and edited the stories of Jose V. Montebon Jr., Cupful of Anger, Bottle Full of Smoke (Silliman Writers Series, 2017), and edited Handulantaw (Cultural Affairs Committee, 2013), a coffee-table book celebrating the arts and culture of Silliman University. He has also edited two landmark anthologies, Future Shock Prose: An Anthology of Young Writers and New Literatures (Silliman Press, 2002), which was nominated as Best Anthology in the National Book Awards given by the Manila Critics Circle, and Celebration: An Anthology Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Silliman University National Writers Workshop (Silliman Press, 2013). 

He has published in Esquire Philippines Magazine, Strange Horizons, Story Philippines, The Sunday Times, Sands and Coral, Dapitan, Tomas, Philippines Free Press, Philippine Graphic, Sunday Inquirer Magazine, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rappler, and CNN Philippines. He was a correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and writes two weekly columns, “The Spy in the Sandwich,” for StarLife Magazine of the Visayan Daily Star, and “Tempest in a Coffee Mug” for MetroPost.

He was the editor of A Survey of Philippine Literature, the pioneering and well-respected website on Philippine literature, which dominated the local online literary world from 2000 to 2005. He was Writer-in-Residence for the International Writers Program of the University of Iowa in 2010, representing the Philippines.

He also does graphic design and book design, most notably for A Touch of Spice by Cecilia Helen Bruce (Midtown Publishing, 2005), which was a finalist at the 11th Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2005.

As a filmmaker and film programmer, he founded Silliman Film Open, the first film festival in Dumaguete City in 2008, directed the short film Trahedya sa Kabila ng Liwanag (1999), and produced the documentary City of Literature (2010), directed by Zhao Lewis Liu. He was also the visionary behind Cinemalaya Goes to Silliman in 2008 and The ActiveVista Film Festival in Silliman in 2012. His film criticism is published on the MetroPost.

As a theatre artist, he has played one of the lead roles in Elsa Martinez Coscolluela’s In My Father’s House, directed by Amiel Y. Leonardia in July 2013, as well as in Luce Auditorium productions of Godspell, West Side Story, and The Sound of Music. He has directed Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and Rene O. Villanueva’s Asawa, and countless programs. He also wrote the musical revue The Story of Dumpawa’s Lullaby (2018).

As a visual artist, he was part of group exhibitions Kabakaba Ba Ka? (Cebu City, 2005) and Above and Beyond: The Photography of the Midnight Society (Dumaguete City, 2008). He also curated Juan Revisited/Mask Production: An Exhibit of Works by Mark Valenzuela and Benjie Ranada (2008), Dumaguete Light and Dark: An Exhibit of Works by John Stevenson and Hersley-Ven Casero (2008), Moment of the Planet: A Videolight Exhibit of Razceljan Luis Salvarita (2008), Colors and Coffee Stains: An Exhibit of Works by Jutze Pamate (2009), Raz/Russ: A Duet in Performance Art by Razceljan Luis Salvarita and Russ Ligtas (2010), Queen Building: An Exhibit of Works by Amihan Jumalon (2010), Uncommon Ordinary Magic: An Exhibit of Works by Hersley-Ven Casero (2011), Birds & Flowers: An Exhibit of Works by Elizabeth Susan Vista-Suarez and Julia Christine Vista Zamar (2013), Urich Calumpang & Henzonly Alboroto: A Photo Exhibit (2013), Everything About This Girl: An Exhibit of Works by Jana Jumalon-Alano (2014), among many others.

As a cultural worker, he has served as the Vice Chairperson for Literary Arts and Cinema for the Silliman University Culture and Arts Council for many years, and was former Execom Member of the National Committtee on Cinema for the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. He was also founding coordinator of the Edilberto and Edith Tiempo Creative Writing Center at Silliman University, and is the lead coordinator of 6200 Dumaguete Pride. He is also a member of the Dumaguete City Art and Culture Council, and deputy of the Dumaguete City Heritage Council, for whom he edits the Hugkat: The Journal of Heritage and Culture of Dumaguete City. He also led the drafting of the “Ordinance Enacting the Tourism, Heritage, and Arts Code of the City of Dumaguete,” passed by the Dumaguete City Council in 2019. He also organized the Albert Faurot Lecture Series for Silliman University in 2006, and spearheaded the first PechaKucha series in Dumaguete, starting in 2013. He is also the Lead Coordinator for 6200 Pride, the annual Pride Month celebration of Dumaguete City.

He is profiled in the literature volume of the Cultural Center of the Philippines [CCP] Encyclopedia of Philippine Arts.