Julia Alvarez

Julia Alvarez is a 68 year old poet and novelist. She was born in New York but her parents moved back to Dominican Republic when she was a child. She was raised in Dominican Republic, but in 1960 her family returned to New York. Julia Alvarez had to learn English and embrace a new culture which became a hassle for her.  Most of her poems are about her experience of fitting in both American and Dominican culture. She is most known for ‘How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents’, in which she discusses the struggles her family had to face after migrating to United states from Dominican Republic. The novel has fifteen stories mentioning the lives of her four sister sisters and her parents. Another novel she is very known for was the ‘Time of Butterflies’. The novel was published in English in 1994 and in Spanish in 2001, it described the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (Dominican politician). Julia Alvarez continued to write more famous poems and novels relating to her homeland. She received many grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ingram Foundation. Alvarez wrote outstanding multicultural literatures expressing her feelings on immigration reminiscing her childhood.

citations

https://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez

https://www.arts.gov/honors/medals/julia-alvarez

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/julia-alvarez

2 thoughts on “Julia Alvarez

  1. karina gooden

    I also liked this poet as well, I love that you gave insight on her background because it helps us understand her work better. It shows us her family struggles from coming from another country and trying to learn and embrace a new culture ,as well a new way of living, which is not really is easy for a lot of people. Julia try to embrace both culture but yet tries to be “American”. The works you mentioned are similar to “All American Girl” in which we read in class. We discussed what is all American and briefly can we be all American. I like that she writes on topics like that because a lot of us are not all American and come from different parts of the world, so her work is relatable.

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  2. Ilknur

    I really enjoyed reading about Julia’s background because I could able to compare about my life to her’s. For example, like I was born in New York City and my family went back to Turkey. Along with that I was raised in Turkey and again came back to New York. I struggled trying to fit into the society as well as Julia’s life. Like how to embrace a new culture and learn how to be part of American culture. Furthermore, I like the poem she wrote, ‘How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents’ expresses how to fit into American society with having no accent. I really like that poem because it took me awhile too in order to have no accent while speaking English. So I understand the struggle she went thru along with her family. Also, all her poems is really enjoyable and very relatable to the people that just moved to America and able to understand the struggle.

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