American Masters

Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined

Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined is a documentary film about the life and work of Julia Alvarez, one of America's most celebrated Latina writers. Alvarez burst onto the literary scene in 1991 with her semi-autobiographical novel, How the Garcia Sisters Lost Their Accents, to great acclaim, followed by In the Time of the Butterflies (1994), which raised global awareness about three sisters assassinated by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, and was made into a major motion picture. Her most recent novel, Afterlife, explores the universal issues of aging, loss and healing, and joins the debate about Latino immigrants in the United States. Called "a writer of gigantic storytelling talent, and exquisitely composed prose," Alvarez has helped blaze the trail for generations of Latina/o authors helping transform American culture and literature. Now 72 years old, she feels that time is running out to tell all of the stories still within her. The film will explore her childhood in the Dominican Republic, her complex family dynamics, the lifelong impact of their escape from the dictatorship, her feelings of displacement, hybridity and loss - and how she transforms all of this, in a nuanced, complex writing voice - into poetry, essays and novels.