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by Mia Tijam (Author), Rustom Pujado (Illustrator)
The and That Was is an archipelago of words: lush and mountainous in parts, civilized veneer in others, almost all of it seemingly born from instances when the forces within could no longer be restrained. The thing about archipelagos is to not view them as chains of islands, but as the space that envelops them.
That is what this collection contains.
The land. The culture. The rustic and the urban, religious and heretical. The fractures. The spaces. The cities without dragons...
The Fairy Tale Reality of the Philippines ...
Where the end began and begins again ... The wishes that point to what we should have wished. These stories contain-and release. And so do you.
Mia Tijam was born and spent her early childhood in Iriga City and grew up in Naga City in the Bicol Region of the Philippines. She studied European languages, philosophy, literary theory, creative writing, and comparative literature at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, in Metro Manila. She was one of the first fellows for CNF in 2007 in the oldest creative writing program in Asia, the Silliman University National Writers Workshop; and a fellow in CNF in the 2024 Women's Annual Writing Workshop. She has published poetry, nonfiction, and short fiction, and her work has received awards and critical recognition.
Mia served as co-editor of the pioneering virtual anthology Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler; editor for the inceptive Special Section for PWDs and PADs of the (CCP) Cultural Center of the Philippines' Literary Journal ANI 41: LAKBAY; co-editor of the CCP's tribute to departed cultural workers in the pandemic, "Hanggang sa Muli: Pagpupugay at Pasasalamat sa mga Pumanaw"; editor for Philippine Genre Stories; judge for Istoryang Rinconada: Literary and Visual Art Competition; judge for Saranggola Awards; and category judge for Bikol translation in the National Book Awards in the Philippines.
Her debut short fiction, Flowers for Thursday (published by Ateneo de Naga University Press) was a finalist in the 40th National Book Awards in the Philippines; its bilingual second edition published in 2024 is the first English-Rinconada short fiction book in Philippine literature. Mia has been acknowledged as one of the writers and editors who have advanced Philippine Speculative Fiction.
