Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize
1 appearances
-
Edition 41 (2015) Winner
Mia Alvar
ミア・アルヴァー
Mia Alvar
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- Manila
- Nationality
- Filipino, American
- Languages
- English, Tagalog
- Residence History
- Manila (birth) → Bahrain (childhood) → New York City (residence)
Career
- Occupations
- Writer
- Active Years
- 2000-
- Influenced By
- Nadine Gordimer (noted comparison)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard College | — | — | Bachelor of Arts | — | United States |
| Columbia University School of the Arts | School of the Arts | — | MFA | — | United States |
Harvard College
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Year of Graduation:
2000
Country:
United States
Columbia University School of the Arts
School of the Arts
Degree:
MFA
Year of Graduation:
2007
Country:
United States
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize | In the Country: Stories | — | PEN America | winner |
| 2016 | Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize | In the Country: Stories | — | University of Rochester | winner |
| 2015 | Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers | In the Country: Stories | — | Barnes & Noble | listed |
| 2015 | New York Times Editors' Choice | In the Country: Stories | — | The New York Times | selection |
| 2015 | Publishers Weekly Best Book (2015) | In the Country: Stories | — | Publishers Weekly | listed |
PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize
2016
Work:
In the Country: Stories
Organization:
PEN America
Result:
winner
Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize
2016
Work:
In the Country: Stories
Organization:
University of Rochester
Result:
winner
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers
2015
Work:
In the Country: Stories
Organization:
Barnes & Noble
Result:
listed
New York Times Editors' Choice
2015
Work:
In the Country: Stories
Organization:
The New York Times
Result:
selection
Publishers Weekly Best Book (2015)
2015
Work:
In the Country: Stories
Organization:
Publishers Weekly
Result:
listed
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
In the Country: Stories
2015 Short story collectionA nine-story collection focused on Filipino expatriates and migrants living in the Middle East, the United States, and Manila. The stories explore migration, home, and cultural conflict through morally complex characters whose mobility brings both blessings and burdens.
diasporaimmigrationhome and returncultural conflictexile/displacement
Bibliography
- In the Country: Stories, Alfred A. Knopf, 2015
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- gorgeous, finely wrought proseprecise and patient narrationgrounded, human-scale metaphors
- Recurring Motifs
- mobilitylives between two worldsmemory and fragments of home
Legacy
In the Country brought international attention to the voices of the Filipino diaspora and earned multiple honors. Alvar is noted for sensitive portraits of migrants and the complexity of lives shaped by mobility.
Quotes
-
"Morally messy stories, exquisitely told."
Source: NPR (review by Maureen Corrigan) (2015) -
"Deft portraits of transnational wanderers, blessed and cursed with mobility."
Source: The New York Times (review by J. K. Ramakrishnan) (2015)
Trivia
- Moved with her family to Bahrain in childhood and later grew up in New York.
- Returned to the Philippines in 1999 while a college senior; that homecoming provided material for her stories.
- In the Country was one of the few short story collections to win the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize (2016).