How Julia Alvarez Wrote Her Many Selves Into Existence

This summer on Code Switch, we're talking to some of our favorite authors about books that taught us about the different dimensions of freedom. In our last installment, we talked to author Ross Gay about the importance of celebrating joy. Next up, a conversation with the writer and poet Julia Alvarez.

Growing up, there were a lot of pieces of Julia Alvarez that felt like they didn't fit together the way they were supposed to. Today, Alvarez is an award-winning author, most known for her first novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. But as a young girl, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic and an aspiring writer, she said there were versions of herself that she wasn't always allowed to share, because they weren't acceptable to her family and surrounding community.

For 's summer book series on freedom, I spoke to Alvarez about in which she explores all her different selves-y collection — an acknowledgement that you're never all of yourself all of the time, and that so many of us exist perpetually in gray areas.