Explore Hispanic Heritage

Julia Alvarez

"

In her poetry and prose, Julia Alvarez (born 1950) has expressed her feelings about her immigration to the United States. She was born in New York City of Dominican parents, who returned to their native land with their newborn daughter. After her family's reimmigration to the United States when Alvarez was ten, she and her sisters struggled to find a place for themselves in their new world. Alvarez has used her dual experience as a starting point for the exploration of culture through writing.

Alvarez's most notable work, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, fictionally discusses her life in the Dominican Republic and the United States and the hardships her family faced as immigrants. Apparently the culmination of many years of effort, the 15 stories which make up the novel offer entertaining insights for a wide variety of potential readers that includes both Hispanics and non-Hispanics." - from "Julia Alvarez." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Biography In Context

Online Resources

About Me  The author's autobiography as provided on her web site

Julia Alvarez interview: In the time of discovery  "Julia Alvarez shares the key elements of her life and work as a novelist, poet and researcher"

By the Book: Julia Alvarez  New York Times interview from April 11, 2019 (Current SJR State students, faculty & staff can get free, unlimited access to the New York Times - here's how to register.) 

Q&A With Julia Alvarez  from 2014

THE ENTHUSIAST: In Praise of Julia Alvarez  New York Times piece from June 20, 2018 (Current SJR State students, faculty & staff can get free, unlimited access to the New York Times - here's how to register.) 

Julia Alvarez Talks About Her Experience as a Dual Citizen

Julia Alvarez To Receive 2013 National Medal Of The Arts  The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government