Writers at Rutgers Reading Series: Julia Alvarez

When:  Thursday, March 03, 2016, 08:00pm

Where:  Rutgers Student Center Mutipurpose Room - 126 College Avenue

Category:  2015-2016 Writers at Rutgers Reading Series

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), 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, and Return to Sender).

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. Most recently, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama.
Alvarez is currently a writer in residence at Middlebury College. In 1997, with her husband, Bill Eichner, she established Alta Gracia, a sustainable coffee farm and literacy center in the Dominican Republic.