Alice Munro and Mia Alvar

Mia Alvar: They weren t names that appeared on my syllabi, or the featured table at the bookstore, Alvar says, according to Metro News. Alvar first story collection, In the Country, published by Knopf, was released this summer to great critical praise with comparisons to one of the indisputable all-time masters of the form, Alice Munro and It such a familiar story. When Mia Alvar was a student, first at Harvard College and then at Columbia University, with aspirations of becoming a writer, she had to dig to find English-language fiction by other Filipino authors despite the fact that there a long, recognized literary tradition dating back to the 19th century. New York-based Alvar can now count herself among a new generation of authors from the Filipino diaspora who are being recognized outside the community for their literary talents, including Montreal own Miguel Syjuco, who won the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize for his debut novel Ilustrado. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.