Julia's Life
Julia Alvarez was born in New York on March 27, 1950. Not long after her birth, her family moved back to the Dominican Republic. At the time the country was under the dictatorship of Trujillo. Her father was an active part of an underground movement to overthrow the dictator which was the inspiration for one of her books, In the Time of the Butterflies. When Julia was 10 years old, the danger of being involved in the illegal movements had increased. For fear of losing their lives, the Alvarez family moved back to the U.S. in 1960. The struggle of being an immigrant was a hardship that proved to benefit her future in becoming a writer. The only way to thoroughly learn the English language was to read. “As a kid, I loved stories, hearing them, telling them. Since ours was an oral culture, stories were not written down. It took coming to this country for reading and writing to become allied in my mind with storytelling.” (Alvarez) Pursuing classes involving literature fostered Julia’s talents. When she was older, she travelled from school to school and eventually secured a tenure at Middlebury College in Vermont. She has published many books and other literary works based on her heritage in the Dominican Republic as well as incorporating the themes of feminism and equality for immigrants. She received the National Medal of Arts in 2013, one of the numerous awards she has received. Not only has she focused on writing, but also on being involved in her native country. She and her husband created Cafe Alta Gracia which sells coffee and offerers a reading and writing program. “We dream of enriching the human community, empowering farmers and their families to read and write, to feel pride in their stewardship of the land, and be paid fairly for their labor.” (cafealtagarcia.com) Not only has Julia Alvarez made a difference through her writing in America but she has stayed true to her past by creating the coffee farm in the Dominican Republic.
A Word About Her Writing
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