Julia Alvarez Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Julia Alvarez
OCCUPATION: Author, Poet
BIRTH DATE: March 27, 1950 (Age: 63)
EDUCATION: Middlebury College, Syracuse University
PLACE OF BIRTH: New York, New York
Full Name: Julia T. Alvarez
AKA: Julia Alvarez
ZODIAC SIGN: Aries

Best Known For

The theme of being caught between two cultures is covered in writer Julia Alvarez's poetry and fiction, including How the García Girls Lost Their Accents.

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Julia Alvarez

APA Style

Julia Alvarez. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 01:07, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez-185850.

Harvard Style

Julia Alvarez. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez-185850 [Accessed 19 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Julia Alvarez." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 01:07 http://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez-185850.

MHRA Style

"Julia Alvarez," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez-185850 [accessed May 19, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Julia Alvarez," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez-185850 (accessed May 19, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Julia Alvarez [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez-185850.

Bluebook Style

Julia Alvarez, http://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez-185850 (last visited May 19, 2013).

AMA Style

Julia Alvarez. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez-185850. Accessed May 19, 2013.

Synopsis

Julia Alvarez was born on March 27, 1950, in New York City. The theme of being caught between two cultures can be found throughout Alvarez's work. She explored this in her first novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991). Her reading audience continued to grow with her second novel, In the Time of Butterflies, published in 1994. Several more acclaimed works of fiction have followed.

Quotes

"Everyone needs a strong sense of self. It is our base of operations for everything that we do in life."

– Julia Alvarez

Early Life and Education

Born on March 27, 1950, in New York City, Julia Alvarez was raised in the Dominican Republic, but had to leave the country when she was 10 years old; her family had supported an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow dictator Rafael Trujillo, and then fled to Brooklyn, New York. Struggling at first to adapt to her new home, Alvarez graduated from Middlebury College in 1971, and went on to earn a master's degree from Syracuse University in 1975.

Commercial Success

The theme of being caught between two cultures can be found throughout Alvarez's poetry and fiction work. She explored this cultural divide in her first novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, published in 1991, which garnered critical and commercial success. Her reading audience continued to grow with her second novel, In the Time of Butterflies, published in 1994. Several more works of fiction have followed, including Saving the World (2006), earning Alvarez more praise and fans worldwide.

A versatile artist, Alvarez has created books for children, including The Secret Footprints (2000) and Tía Lola Came to ~~Visit~~ Stay (2001), and a novel for young adults, Before We Were Free (2002). She also writes essays and poetry. Her latest volume of poetry, The Woman I Kept to Myself, was published in 2004.