Julia Alvarez

Born Mar. 27, 1950 in NY

Acclaimed author of numerous novels, nonfiction works, collections of poetry and children books.

Her literary themes pushed the narrative that women could be successful scholars (like herself), which bucked traditional Latin American cultural norms.

Well-known novels include How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies.

Winner of the 2004 and 2010 Pura Belpré Narrative Award, for writing Before We Were Free and Return to Sender, respectively.

Also won the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature.