Julia Alvarez

Julia Alvarez is a renowned author, born on March 27, 1950, in New York City. However, she spent the first ten years of her life in the Dominican Republic, before her family moved back to the United States in 1960 when she was ten years old. This experience of moving between two cultures would later become a significant theme in her work.

Alvarez has made substantial contributions to American literature, with a body of work that includes six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults. Her writing is known for its exploration of the Latinx experience in the United States, and she has been recognized for her efforts with numerous awards. These include a Latina Leader Award in Literature from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, and the Woman of the Year award from Latina magazine.

In addition to her writing, Alvarez has been an active teacher and mentor to other writers, working in schools and communities across America. She was a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College until her retirement in 2016. Her work has been widely recognized for its significance, including inclusion in the New York Public Library’s program “The Hand of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia Alvarez.”

One of Alvarez's most well-known works is "In the Time of the Butterflies," a novel that has sold over one million copies and was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program. In 2013, Alvarez was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling.