American Voices presents and Evening with Julia Alvarez

Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of seven novels, three books of nonfiction, four collections of poetry, and 12 books for children and young adults. She has taught in schools and communities across America and, until her retirement in 2016, was a writer in residence at Middlebury College. Her novel In the Time of the Butterflies, with over one million copies in print, was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program, and in 2013 President Barack Obama awarded Alvarez the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling. In 2024, she was the subject of an American Masters documentary, “Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined,” which aired on PBS. Alvarez is one of the founders of Border of Lights, a movement to promote peace and collaboration between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Her new collection of poetry, Visitations, is published by Alfred A. Knopf. She lives in Vermont. Rigoberto González is the author of 18 books of poetry and prose, including The Book of Ruin, Unpeopled Eden, and Black Blossoms. He edited Camino del Sol: 15 Years of Latina and Latino Writing. He has been awarded fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, National Endowment of the Arts, and New York Foundation of the Arts. He has won the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, the Lambda Literary Award, the Shelley Memorial Prize from the Poetry Society of America, the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets, the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. He is a professor in the Department of English and the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Rutgers University-Newark. American Voices at Hunter College (Paul Alexander, director) is a series of lectures, performances, and special events that aim to examine or present an American figure (or figures) in order to understand better the culture in which we live. Its literary events have focused on Sylvia Plath, Sandra Cisneros, Richard Blanco, and Sonia Sanchez. Musical presentations have included “The Billie Holiday Symposium at Hunter College,” “Billie Holiday: An Encore Concert,” and “Women in Jazz.” On May 12, at the Danny Kaye Playhouse, American Voices will present “Louis Armstrong: A Celebration of the Father of Jazz,” featuring ChampianFulton, Catherine Russell, Matt Doyle, Brandon Victor Dixon, and Bettye LaVette. Tickets are available at https://kayeplayhouse.showare.com American Voices Student Committee Jasmin Bota Stevie Dattomo Michelle Dimirenko Camil Luciano Sammy Pignalosa Julie Rosenberg (chair) Emma Silva Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, April 27, 2026.