Author's+Biographical+Information

=Julia Alvarez (b.1950)= Julia Alvarez was raised in the Dominican Republic after being born in New York City. Her father was involved in trying to overthrow Rafael Trujillo, the Republic's dictator, so in 1960 her family was forced to flee back to the United States. Only ten year old, Alvarez spoke only Spanish. Her journey from the Dominican Republic into the States and the culture change she was forced to make, are what the says are the reasons she started her writing. Alvarez had to learn the English language to fit into the American life. Her writing helped her deal with the hardship of adjusting to a new country, new culture, and new language. "In high school, I fell in love with how words can make you feel complete in a way that I hadn't felt complete since leaving the island," she said. At college she received several poetry prizes and earned a masters degree in creative writing. She then went on to join the Kentucky Arts Commission's poetry-in-the-schools program in which she worked two years traveling around Kentucky teaching poetry. Finally she settled in Vermont at Middlebury College as a professor of English. Alvarez's poetry often focuses on her heritage, her own experiences, and her daily life. She has published two volumes of poetry; //Homecoming// (1984) and //The Other Side// (1995). Alvarez started to focus on fiction after //Homecoming//. She published many successful stories including, //How Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents// (1991), //In the Time of the Butterflies// (1994), and // ¡Yo! // (1997). H er novels are semi-biographical like her poetry, and deal with both immigrant experiences and her own culture shocks. "Antojos" is a story of a Dominican woman who has settled in the Untied States and returns to her homeland. The story shows what happens when she is confronted with the difference and culture she once left behind.

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