Writing stories that honor sacrifices made by women

If this was written in the Dominican Republic during the time of President Rafael Trujillo, his government would have forced this article to praise his name. Instead, the focus will be on Julia Alvarez, who escaped the Trujillo regime with her family when she was a child.

Alvarez grew up knowing that not everyone got away. Others stayed and paid the ultimate price as they stood up against Trujillo's corruption. The Mirabal sisters did just that.

"They were the ones that were the mirror image of my family," said Alvarez. "I always felt very curious about them and how they got brave enough to do this."

What they did was give their lives for their country.

On Nov 25, 1960, three of the sisters were beaten to death. Before that they had been imprisoned several times. All this happened because they refused to stay silent about the dictatorship they despised.

Alvarez was intrigued by their story and wanted to write it. She decided to make the book historical fiction. Partway through the process she became worried she might offend the family of the Mirabal sisters.

"In the middle of writing it I got a little scared that they would disapprove," said Alvarez. "I tried to create characters that would be believable with the flaws of human beings. I thought they wouldn't be happy about that. I thought about making it all fiction and actually they were the ones that asked me to keep their names as the Mirabal sisters so that their memory would not die, and people would know them. They actually convinced me that they would really welcome the story."

Alvarez published their story as, "In the Time of the Butterflies," in 1994. Since then the book has won many awards. Recently, it was chosen from a list of books prepared by the National Endowment for the the Arts (NEA) to be to be the headlining book for ACC's Big Read 2010.

Alvarez was very pleased to have the book picked.

"It's tremendously gratifying to have this book chosen," said Alvarez. "It's really wonderful to feel like the book has not died with the years, but is still being read."

Alvarez explained that she is still close with the family of the Mirabal sisters.

"The book has been translated into 13 languages. Every time that it is translated I take a copy down so that they can have a copy," said Alvarez. "They have a library in the room where the girls used to live where they have all the books. This is a way that they can know what has happened with the book so far," said Alvarez.

For those reading the novel for the first time, Alvarez does not wish to prescribe what they should specifically take from the book. Instead, she explained what she hopes a reader will bring to the book.

"The basic thing that I hope for is for a reader who will read it passionately," said Alvarez.

She explained how putting a book into the world is like delivering a child into the world.

"I just realized that once you write a book it's like when your kids grow up and you let them go," said Alvarez. "You have to let them become who they are. It's like my books that I write. I put everything I have into them – my time, everything I know, all the talent I have – and the rest is done by the readers who bring it to life with their imaginations."

On Nov. 17, Alvarez came to the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center for a reading. The event was in collaboration with ACC and the Big Read.

The audience listened as she explained her first experiences with reading.

"I felt like the print lifted and the writers were saying that I could enter and that I was welcome in there," said Alvarez.

She is currently working on a nonfiction book about Haiti.

"I'm just learning as I write what the book is going to be about," said Alvarez. "When I finish all these readings I will be able to get home and work on it."