Immigrant Author Finds Home in Books

Julia Alvarez, the famous Dominican author whose work focuses on the immigrant experience, described her growth as a Latina author to a crowd of nearly 500 in Sanders Theatre last night.

During the event, co-sponsored by the Cambridge Public Library’s Cambridge READS program and the Harvard Book Store, Alvarez told the audience about the impact literature has had on her life.

“Stories have the power to transform and to stretch the muscles of imagination­—the same muscles of tolerance and compassion,” she said.

As the author of five collections of poetry and five books—including “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents”—Alvarez related the factors that shaped her evolution as an writer. She described her family fleeing from the dictatorial regime in their native Dominican Republic, as well as the subsequent struggle to find her identity and voice as a young immigrant to America.

“I felt like a cartoon character who runs away from a pursuer off a cliff edge. I was in a free fall,” she said.

What cushioned her abrupt transition to American culture, she said, was becoming an avid reader and discovering the power of books.

In contrast to the unsympathetic environment of her new home, she said, the “world of stories was a welcoming place.”

Alvarez said that she had originally doubted her ability to become an American writer, and cited Langston Hughes’ poem “I, Too, Sing America” as giving her the courage to write.

Carole F. Withrow, the program coordinator of Cambridge READS, said that Alvarez’s novel was chosen for the event because of its broad appeal among different age and racial groups.

She added that the novel, which speaks to the experience of immigration and assimilation, was especially pertinent given the “rich multicultural population” of Cambridge.

Mabel Varges, a student at Notre Dame High School in Lawrence, MA, came with her entire junior class to the event.

“I could relate to a lot of her ideas, especially since my parents are immigrants from the Dominican Republic,” Varges said.

Linda G. Begen, a high school English teacher at TechBoston Academy in Dorchester, described the event as “very inspiring,” adding that “it reinvigorated my interest in literature and in my own writing.”

Today, Alvarez will speak to the students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, where her novel was on the summer reading list.