Alex Alviar was born of Filipino parents in 1976 and raised in the suburban outskirts of Detroit. He received his MFA in poetry at the University of Montana in Missoula. Winner of the 2002 Poetry Slam Championship in Libby, Montana, Alex also is a recipient of a 2003 AWP Intro Journals Award and two honorable mentions from the Academy of American Poets Student Poetry Prize. His poetry has appeared in The Journal at Ohio State University.