The Life of Julia

 

Meet Julia Alvarez.

Julia's life began in 1950. Born in New York City, her life as a author never crossed her parent's minds. Shortly after her birth, Alvarez moved to the Dominican Republic until her tenth year of life. During that tenth year, her father had played a part in the attempt to overthrow Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship. Being a physician, he grew fearful and moved his family back to the States. "Growing up in queens was radically different from the Latino Caribbean world she experienced during her childhood" (Bedford, pg. 892). However, experiencing the new culture and language caused Julia Alvarez to become the writer she is today. Alvarez quoted Czeslaw Milosz's words of "language is the only homeland" to describe her personal testimony of how hard it was to switch from living in Queens to the United States (Bedford, pg. 892). She states moving to America wasn't the biggest problem regarding the move, but learning English was.

When I'm asked what made me into
a writer, I point to the watershed
experience of coming to this country.
Not understanding the language, I
had to pay close attention to each
word--great training for a writer.
--Julia Alvarez

During high school, she experienced a appetite for learning more and more about words. She grew to love writing, which took a serious turn during college. She attended Connecticut College from 1967 to 1969, then Middlebury College. At Middlebury, she achieved her Bachelors in 1971. After receiving her bachelors, she successfully went onto receiving the American Academy of Poetry Prize at Syracuse University, then received her Masters in creative writing.

Since her early years in this profession, Julia Alvarez has "served as a writer-in-residence for the Kentucky Arts Commission, the Delaware Arts Council, and the Arts Council of Fayetteville, North Carolina" (Bedford, pg. 892). Additionally, Julia has acquired teaching time at the California State College, College of Sequoias, Phillips Andover Academy, University of Vermont, University of Illinois, and George Washington University. Since 1988, she has succeeded as a professor of literature and creative writing at the Middlebury College. Currently, she serves as a part-time writer-in-residence while dividing her time between Vermont and the Dominican Republic (Bedford, pg. 894). Along with her husband, she has run a organic coffee farm in the Dominican that gives literacy aid to students and adults alike. Her books a Cafecito Story (2001) became the result of her coffee farm, which "supports the ideals of fair trade and sustainability for coffee farmers in the Dominican Republic" (Bedford, pg. 894).



Works Cited:

"Julia Alvarez." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.
              <http://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez-185850>.                         

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