Lualhati Torres Bautista is one of the foremost Filipino female novelists in the history of contemporary Philippine Literature. Her novels include Dekada '70, Bata, Bata, Pa'no Ka Ginawa?, and Gapô.
Bautista was born in Santa Ana, Manila on December 30, 1946 to Esteban Bautista and Gloria Torres. She graduated from the Emilio Jacinto Elementary School in 1958 and from Torres High School in 1962. She was a journalism student. She has served as vice-president of the Screenwriters Guild of the Philippines and chair of the Kapisanan ng mga Manunulat ng Nobelang Popular. She became a national fellow for fiction of the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center in 1986.
In addition to being a novelist, Lualhati Bautista is also a movie and television scriptwriter and a short story writer. Her first screenplay was Sakada (Seasonal Sugarcane Workers), a story written in 1972 that exposed the plight of Filipino peasants. Bautista has received recognition from the Philippines' Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature and the Surian ng Wikang Pambansa in 1987. Her award-winning screenplays include Bulaklak sa City Jail (1984), Kung Mahawi Man ang Ulap (1984), Sex Object (1985). For screenplay writing, she has received recognition from the Metro Manila Film Festival (best story-best screenplay), Film Academy Awards (best story-best screenplay), Star Awards (finalist for best screenplay), FAMAS (finalist for best screenplay), and URIAN awards. Two of her short stories have also won the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Tatlong Kuwento ng Buhay ni Juan Candelabra (Three Stories in the Life of Juan Candelabra), first prize, 1982; and Buwan, Buwan, Hulugan mo Ako ng Sundang (Moon, Moon, Drop Me a Sword), third prize, 1983. Bautista also authored the television dramas Daga sa Timba ng Tubig (The Mouse in the Bucket of Water) (1975) and Isang Kabanata sa Libro ng Buhay ni Leilani Cruzaldo (A Chapter in the Book of Life of Leilani Cruzaldo) (1987). The latter won best drama story for television from the Catholic Mass Media Awards.
Bautista was honored by the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings on March 10, 2004 during the 8th Annual Lecture on Vernacular Literature by Women.