(1950-)

Who Is Julia Alvarez?

Julia Alvarez is a Dominican American poet, author and essayist. The theme of being caught between two cultures can be found throughout Alvarez’s work. She explored this in her first novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991). Her reading audience continued to grow with her second novel, In the Time of Butterflies, published in 1994. Several more acclaimed works of fiction have followed.

Early Life and Education

Born on March 27, 1950, in New York City, Julia Alvarez was raised in the Dominican Republic, but had to leave the country when she was 10 years old; her family had supported an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow dictator Rafael Trujillo, and then fled to Brooklyn, New York. Struggling at first to adapt to her new home, Alvarez graduated from Middlebury College in 1971, and went on to earn a master’s degree from Syracuse University in 1975.

Commercial Success

The theme of being caught between two cultures can be found throughout Alvarez’s poetry and fiction work. She explored this cultural divide in her first novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, published in 1991, which garnered critical and commercial success. Her reading audience continued to grow with her second novel, In the Time of Butterflies, published in 1994. Several more works of fiction have followed, including Saving the World (2006), earning Alvarez more praise and fans worldwide.

Writer Julia Alvarez poses for a photo in a farm Altagracia in Jarabacoa,Dominican Republic,Tuesday.Jan,24,2006.Alvarez raise organic coffee that they import to the United States. They put the proceeds, supplemented by their own money, into a small school and library in the mountain village of Los Marranitos where their farm is located, which is aimed at helping children and adults learn to read (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Julia Alvarez
Photo: AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa

A versatile artist, Alvarez has created books for children, including The Secret Footprints (2000) and Tía Lola Came to Visit Stay (2001) and a novel for young adults, Before We Were Free (2002). She also writes essays and poetry. Her latest volume of poetry, The Woman I Kept to Myself, was published in 2004.

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Personal Life and Other Roles

Married to Bill Eichner since 1989, Alvarez lives in Vermont. In recent years, she has served as a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College.

QUICK FACTS

  • Name: Julia Alvarez
  • Birth Year: 1950
  • Birth date: March 27, 1950
  • Birth State: New York
  • Birth City: New York
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Female
  • Best Known For: Julia Alvarez is a poet and novelist who is known for novels such as ‘How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents’ and ‘In the Time of the Butterflies’.
  • Industries
    • Fiction and Poetry
  • Astrological Sign: Aries
  • Schools
    • Syracuse University
    • Middlebury College
  • Nacionalities
    • Dominican

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CITATION INFORMATION

  • Article Title: Julia Alvarez Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/julia-alvarez
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: August 26, 2019
  • Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

QUOTES

  • Everyone needs a strong sense of self. It is our base of operations for everything that we do in life.