Julia Alvarez

Introduction

Julia Alvarez

Novelist Julia Alvarez could have died in the Dominican Republic, but her family escaped in time. Twice her parents had to flee to the United States to get away from the ruthless dictatorship of Raphael Trujillo. Alvarez’s father, who was involved in an underground movement to rid the Dominican Republic of Trujillo, was a target for assassination. Although Alvarez has lived most of her life in the States, she dedicates much of her writing to her Dominican roots. She escaped a devastating political regime in her country, learned to deal with prejudice against immigrants in the States, conquered a new language, and found a way to make a living through her most favorite thing to do—writing. Not only a great author, Alvarez is a survivor.

Essential Facts

1. Alvarez’s first novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, was not published until the author was 41. “Be patient,” she tells young writers.
2. Alvarez lives on an organic farm with Bill Eichner. The couple have developed a sustainable co-operative in the Dominican Republic, where they also run a school to promote literacy.
3. Alvarez claims that having to learn a new language (English) when she was 10 years old helped her writing because she had to pay so much attention to words.
4. In 1998, Alvarez published a collection of essays, Something to Declare, covering details about her writing life, which she claims has not changed in the past decade.
5. Alvarez’s novel In the Time of the Butterflies is based on the lives of Dominican Republic women, founders of the underground group Alvarez’s father belonged to. These women were not as lucky as the Alvarez family. They were brutally murdered.