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Julia Alvarez

Goodreads Author

Born

in New York, New York, The United States

Website

http://www.juliaalvarez.com/

Twitter

writerjalvarez

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Poetry, Young Adult

Member Since

April 2014

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/julia_alvarez

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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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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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Julia Alvarez’s books

Average rating: 3.89 · 184,394 ratings · 18,827 reviews · 93 distinct works • Similar authors

	In the Time of the Butterflies 4.15 avg rating — 79,737 ratings — published 1994 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How the García Girls Lost Their Accents 3.62 avg rating — 32,855 ratings — published 1991 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Afterlife 3.70 avg rating — 18,321 ratings — published 2020 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Cemetery of Untold Stories 3.61 avg rating — 16,282 ratings — published 2024 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Before We Were Free 3.91 avg rating — 9,558 ratings — published 2002 — 49 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Yo! 3.83 avg rating — 5,071 ratings — published 1997 — 36 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In the Name of Salome 3.89 avg rating — 4,095 ratings — published 2000 — 39 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Return to Sender 3.78 avg rating — 4,084 ratings — published 2009 — 37 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Saving the World 3.37 avg rating — 3,067 ratings — published 2006 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How Tia Lola Came to (Visit) Stay 3.75 avg rating — 1,993 ratings — published 2001 — 40 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Series by Julia Alvarez

Tia Lola Stories (4 books)
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Julia Alvarez (Goodreads Author)

3.77 avg rating — 2,533 ratings

To celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs annually from September 15 through October 15 in the U.S, we’ve compiled 84 new and...

Polls

February 2019 New School Poll

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, 288 pages, 1989

82 votes, 28.1%

Howards End by E.M. Forster, 302 pages, 1910

82 votes, 28.1%

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, 647 pages, 1981

57 votes, 19.5%

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, 372 pages, 1968

40 votes, 13.7%

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, 324 pages, 1994

31 votes, 10.6%

292 total votes

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The Seasonal Read...: Hispanic Heritage Month	27	226	Oct 05, 2009 11:10PM
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The Seasonal Read...: 10.1 - Stormy Weather	18	198	Jul 24, 2010 07:37AM

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