New York-based and award-winning author Carissa Villacorta is in Manila to hold a workshop on March 7 at the Enderun Colleges in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.

Villacorta will be headlining ?Surreality: from dreaming the life to living the dream,? a workshop based on her book of the same title and recipient of several US-based international awards for writing. Published by the University of Santo Tomas in 2006, Surreality is a collection of essays about contemporary life in New York from the perspective of a young Filipina.

The ?Surreality Workshop,? supported by Powerbooks, hopes to bring in a fresh batch of dreamers whom Carissa can meet and mentor. It will also coincide with the release of the second edition of Surreality, to be sold by Powerbooks and signed by author onsite.

Villacorta made a name for herself and Filipinos in general when she became the first Filipino author to launch at a Borders Bookstore, the largest book retailer in the world, with 1,200 branches across the US, Europe and Asia. Villacorta had among the biggest book signing events at Borders? flagship store on Park Avenue and 57th Street in New York. A year later, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential Filipinas in the United States at age 28. In late 2008, she was invited by Enderun Colleges, an esteemed academic institution in Manila, to guest-lecture on Writing and Business Communications.

?Enderun is so honored to have award-winning author Ms. Carissa Villacorta as one of our faculty members. The Surreality Workshop will be a rare opportunity for all to receive the tips and insights she has to share,? said Tricia Tensuan, Enderun Colleges? vice president for marketing.