Julia Alvarez
Biography
Julia Alvarez
When she was ten years old, Julia Alvarez's family had to flee the Dominican Republic because her father had been involved in a coup against dictator Trujillo. Four months later, most of her father's co-conspirators were killed.
When she was ten years old, Julia Alvarez's family had to flee the Dominican Republic because her father had been involved in a coup against dictator Trujillo. Four months later, most of her father's co-conspirators were killed.
These dangerous times and her experience of exile were formative for Alvarez as a writer: "What made me into a writer was coming to this country . . . all of a sudden losing a culture, a homeland, a language, a family . . . I wanted a portable homeland. And that's the imagination." Exile became the basis for two of Alvarez's best-selling novels: HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS (1991) and its sequel ¡YO! (1997). Her father's revolutionary ties inspired IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES (1994).
Those novels have won many honors, including the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award, ALA Notable Book of the Year, American Bookseller's "Top 10 Books to Discuss" and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. They have been translated into nine languages. SOMETHING TO DECLARE, Julia Alvarez's first nonfiction book, a collection of her best and most influential essays, was published in 1998.
She has also published several volumes of poetry: THE HOUSEKEEPING BOOK (1994), THE OTHER SIDE / EL OTRO LADO (1995) and HOMECOMING: NEWSELECTED POEMS (1996). In 1997 she was featured in the New York Public Library's exhibition "Original manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia Alvarez."
Her writings have been published in a great range of periodicals, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, Hispanic Culture Review, Latina, Conjunctions, USA Today, The Washington Post Magazine, and The American Scholar. She is featured in The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. Julia Alvarez graduated from Middlebury College and received an MA in creative writing from Syracuse University. She teaches English and creative writing at Middlebury College.
Among her many honors and awards are a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoriscausa, from the City University of New York and the Alumni Achievement Award from Middlebury College in 1996. The Dominican Republic's Annual Book Fair of 1997 was dedicated to her work. For the 1997-98 term, she was elected to the Member's Council of the PEN American Center.
Her latest work of fiction is called IN THE NAME OF SALOME.
Julia Alvarez
