Julia Alvarez - Afterlife Virtual Event
The Atlanta History Center welcomes internationally bestselling author of “In the Time of the Butterflies” and “How the García Girls Lost Their Accents,” Julia Alvarez, for a virtual discussion on her first adult novel in almost fifteen years, “Afterlife.”
Alvarez will appear in discussion with Virginia Prescott, host of GBP’s “On Second Thought.”
This event is free and open to the public. Join the discussion via the link below on Tuesday, April 21, at 7:00 pm.
A Cappella Books has copies of “Afterlife” available for purchase and will provide local drop-off to most in-town Atlanta neighborhoods, as well as prompt shipping to customers outside of our delivery areas.
About the Book
Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of “Afterlife,” has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves—lines from her favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack—but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words.
“Afterlife” is a compact, nimble, and sharply droll novel. Set in this political moment of tribalism and distrust, it asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families, including—maybe especially—members of our human family? How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do we stay true to those glorious souls we have lost?
About the Author
Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults. She has taught and mentored writers in schools and communities across America and, until her retirement in 2016, was a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College. Her work has garnered wide recognition, including a Latina Leader Award in Literature from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, the Woman of the Year by Latina magazine, and inclusion in the New York Public Library's program "The Hand of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia Alvarez." “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 Obama awarded Alvarez the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling.
