Julia Alvarez
Born March 27, 1950
From New York City, New York, United States · Nationality: United States, Dominican Republic · Writes fiction
Born in New York City in 1950, Julia Alvarez's parents returned to their native country, Dominican Republic, shortly after her birth. Ten years later, the family was forced to flee to the United States because of her father’s involvement in a plot to overthrow the dictator, Trujillo.
Alvarez has written novels (How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies, ¡Yo!, In the Name of Salomé, Saving the World, Afterlife), collections of poems (Homecoming, The Other Side/ El Otro Lado, The Woman I Kept to Myself), nonfiction (Something to Declare, Once Upon A Quinceañera, and A Wedding in Haiti), and numerous books for young readers (including the Tía Lola Stories series, Before We Were Free, finding miracles, Return to Sender and Where Do They Go?).
Alvarez’s awards include the Pura Belpré and Américas Awards for her books for young readers, the Hispanic Heritage Award, and the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award. In 2013, she received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama.
Source: https://www.juliaalvarez.com/about
Quotes
“I dreamed of stretching my pastry dough out / to cover the earth with a crust so fine / my love would think it was nothing / but the world at his feet, / baked by the summer sun, / dusted with cinnamon.”
Rolling Dough “The tarragon dotted the rice in the cauldron. / And now, as if signaled, the spice jars popped open, / unladened their far east wonders: / cumin, turmeric, saffron, and endives.”
What Could It Be? “I’m more in the Faulkner tradition. I’m writing my Spanish in English. Florid, flowing, expansive, rococo sounds, the sonority of Spanish closer to the Latin roots than the English, which has been also infused with Anglo Saxon, Germanic words.”
“Julia Alvarez interview: In the time of discovery” in The Writer “I like to start the writing day with poetry; like the choir master sounding a note on his pipe, it sets the standard high (“No approximate words in a poem,” Dickinson says) and puts me in the right register.”
interview “Writing is hard work, a huge commitment of time, energy, faith, passion, and there’s nothing shameful in the attempt, even if the work doesn’t end up succeeding.”
interview
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Books by Julia Alvarez in order
Books by Julia Alvarez in the order they were published, from Homecoming (1984) to Critical Insights : How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (2021).
- 1Homecoming
Homecoming1984 - 2How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents1992 - 3In the Time of the Butterflies
In the Time of the Butterflies1994 - 4The Other Side
The Other Side1996 - 5Yo!
Yo!1997 - 6Something to Declare
Something to Declare1998 - 7In the name of Salomé
In the name of Salomé2000 - 8The Secret Footprints
The Secret Footprints2000 - 9A Cafecito Story
A Cafecito Story2001 - 10How Tía Lola Came to Visit Stay
How Tía Lola Came to Visit Stay2001 - 11Before We Were Free
Before We Were Free2002 - 12How Tia Lola Came to Stay
How Tia Lola Came to Stay2002 - 13The Woman I Kept to Myself
The Woman I Kept to Myself2004 - 14A Gift of Gracias
A Gift of Gracias2005 - 15Finding Miracles
Finding Miracles2006 - 16Once Upon a Quinceanera
Once Upon a Quinceanera2007 - 17Return to Sender
Return to Sender2009 - 18How Tía Lola ended up starting over
How Tía Lola ended up starting over2011 - 19How Tia Lola Saved the Summer
How Tia Lola Saved the Summer2011 - 20A Wedding in Haiti
A Wedding in Haiti2012 - 21Where Do They Go?Where Do They Go?2016
- 22Antes De Ser Libre
Antes De Ser Libre2018 - 23Afterlife : A Novel
Afterlife : A Novel2020 - 24Critical Insights : How the Garcia Girls Lost Their AccentsCritical Insights : How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents2021