First, last, and always, Julia Alvarez is a storyteller.
The Middlebury College writer-in-residence, coffee farmer, and author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents launched the 2010 Living Writers lecture series on Wednesday evening, giving a rapt audience the story of her own life, which began in the Dominican Republic under the dictator Rafael Trujillo.
When her father fled the country after participating in a failed coup attempt, the family moved to Jamaica, Queens. Lost in the monochromatic culture of mid-20th century America, she found herself, thanks to a sixth-grade teacher who gave Alvarez a book list and sent her to the library. 鈥淣ew York, 1960, I became a reader; I dwelt in possibility,鈥 she said.
But her teacher didn鈥檛 just encourage her to read. 鈥淪he told me to write my own stories,鈥 said Alvarez. 鈥淭he taste of guava, the smell of the ocean, the feel of the tropical sun like a warm blessing on my head 鈥 write that down. I did. I wrote stories, and everything I lost came back to me.鈥
Alvarez retrieved her past and parlayed it into a successful future, earning a bachelor鈥檚 at Middlebury and a master鈥檚 in creative writing at Syracuse University. Her prolific writing has earned her countless awards, including the 2009 F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature, the 2007 Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute鈥檚 Latina Leader Award in Literature, and several honorary degrees.
鈥淚 love storytelling,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e have a way of finding our way through our stories and songs and poems.鈥 Now 鈥 in print, lecture halls, workshops, and one-on-one conversation 鈥 she鈥檚 helping others find their way, too.
When she purchased her coffee plantation, Alta Gracia, in the Dominican Republic, she looked around and realized that the children living there were illiterate. Wanting them to find the same freedom she found in the written word, she set up a school and a library with the help of the Peace Corps and Middlebury students on alternative spring break trips.
Reading stories to Dominican children inspired her to write her own works for younger audiences, resulting in books like The Best Gift of All: The Legend of La Vieja Bel茅n. The exile who navigated by narrative has returned to her roots and is inspiring a new generation with her storytelling.
This edition of was co-sponsored by the ALANA Cultural Center and the university library. 91麻豆精品 will welcome nine more speakers in 2010, including Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri on September 16 and Nobel Prize winner V.S. Naipaul on October 15. Authors meet with students in the classroom, then give a public reading and lecture, which streams live on 91麻豆精品鈥檚 Livestream channel at .