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Julia Alvarez
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Julia Alvarez

Goodreads Author


Born
in New York, New York, The United States
Website

Twitter
writerjalvarez

Genre
Literature & Fiction, Poetry, Young Adult

Member Since
April 2014

URL


Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults. She has taught and mentored writers in schools and communities across America and, until her retirement in 2016, was a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College. Her work has garnered wide recognition, including a Latina Leader Award in Literature from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, the Woman of the Year by Latina magazine, and inclusion in the New York Public Library’s program “The Hand of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

How do you get inspired to write?
Julia Alvarez Reading, reading, reading. . . I always say if my reading isn’t going well, my writing won’t either. Reading poetry to start the writing day is especi…moreReading, reading, reading. . . I always say if my reading isn’t going well, my writing won’t either. Reading poetry to start the writing day is especially effective for me. If a poet is really good, I feel the mystery stirring in me again, the faith confirmed that language can be used to get hold of what can't be put into words! Then, like that kid who doesn't want to go inside at the end of the day, I want to “stay” in that space that language can create, and the only way to stay there is to write, write, write, losing myself in the writing. (less)
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What are you currently working on?
Julia Alvarez In keeping with Mr. Johnson's commandment, see my advice to aspiring writers, I write every day—or try to. But I don’t know where I’m going till I get…moreIn keeping with Mr. Johnson's commandment, see my advice to aspiring writers, I write every day—or try to. But I don’t know where I’m going till I get there. If I give you a destination or set up the parameters of the work by describing it, I’ve already contained it in my idea of it. So I’m letting myself play and wander and wonder over stories in my family’s past, stories in the past of my native country (Dominican Republic), the narrative ties that bind us all into blood families, nations, human family. That about covers the whole map! Additionally, I’m not just interested in content, but also in how a story can get told in ways that surprise. I remember my astonishment reading Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic and realizing the effectiveness of writing a novel in the first person plural point of view and in small vignettes. More recently, I’ve been dazzled by Colum McCann’s Apeirogon, and its almost Scheherazadian way of telling a story in 1001 small narratives, with "everything" thrown in and, amazingly, everything fits. . .
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Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.9 · 177,266 ratings · 17,957 reviews · 83 distinct works • Similar authors
In the Time of the Butterflies
4.15 avg rating — 77,975 ratings — published 1994 — 110 editions
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How the García Girls Lost T...
3.62 avg rating — 32,304 ratings — published 1991 — 2 editions
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Afterlife
3.70 avg rating — 17,887 ratings — published 2020 — 21 editions
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The Cemetery of Untold Stories
3.65 avg rating — 12,411 ratings — published 2024 — 20 editions
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Before We Were Free
3.90 avg rating — 9,307 ratings — published 2002 — 6 editions
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Yo!
3.83 avg rating — 5,048 ratings — published 1997 — 36 editions
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In the Name of Salome
3.89 avg rating — 4,073 ratings — published 2000 — 39 editions
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Return to Sender
3.78 avg rating — 4,028 ratings — published 2009 — 37 editions
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Saving the World
3.37 avg rating — 3,034 ratings — published 2006
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How Tia Lola Came to (Visit...
3.74 avg rating — 1,972 ratings — published 2001 — 40 editions
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More books by Julia Alvarez…

Series by Julia Alvarez

How Tia Lola Came to (Visit... How Tia Lola Learned to Teach How Tia Lola Saved the Summer How Tia Lola Ended Up Start...
(4 books)
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3.77 avg rating — 2,500 ratings

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