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Join us for a Special Literary Event with Julia Alvarez at Explore Booksellers!

(August 4, 2008) The Aspen Writers' Foundation and Explore Booksellers are delighted to co-present Latina novelist, poet, and essayist Julia Alvarez in a special literary event to officially announce the cultural theme for the 2009 Aspen Summer Words Literary Festival. This intimate reading, talk, and book signing will be held at Explore Booksellers in Aspen, on August 22 at 5:00 pm. As part of her national book tour, Alvarez will promote the release of the paperback edition of her novel, Once Upon a Quinceañera, (Viking; August 2007). This event is free and open the the public!

Though born in New York City in 1950, Julia Alvarez spent the first ten years of her life in her family’s native country, the Dominican Republic. In 1960, her family was forced to flee the Dominican Republic and immigrate to the United States because of Alvarez’s father’s involvement in an underground plot to overthrow the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael L. Trujillo. Alvarez's homecoming to the United States proved to be more difficult than she thought it would be. In her hardships assimilating to the English language and American life, Alvarez found comfort in the world of stories, fostering a love for reading and writing. Alvarez went on to earn her undergraduate degree at Middlebury College, and a graduate degree in Creative Writing from Syracuse University.

Her first novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, published in 1991 received considerable attention and won a PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for excellence in multicultural literature. Her reading audience continued to grow with the publication of her novels, ¡Yo! (1997), In the Name of Salomé (2000), and Saving the World (2006). A versatile artist, Alvarez has written five books for children and young adults including; How Tía Lola Came to Visit Stay (2001), Finding Miracles (2004), and the forthcoming Return to Sender, due out in 2009. She has also written a book of essays entitled, Something to Declare (2009), and five collections of poetry including, The Woman I Kept to Myself (2004). She and her husband, Bill Eichner, founded Alta Gracia, a sustainable farm in the Dominican Republic that produces organic coffee and also serves as a literacy center. She currently lives in Vermont, where she is a writer in residence at Middlebury College.

An Evening with Author of “Angela’s Ashes,” Frank McCourt: August 26, 2008
The Aspen Writers’ Foundation presents Pulitzer Prize-winning author at Town Center Booksellers in Basalt

(August 12, 2008) Aspen, CO -- The Aspen Writers’ Foundation and Town Center Booksellers are pleased to co-present renowned author, Frank McCourt – “a writer risen from the ashes” – in a special literary evening in honor of Louise and Clay Bennett. McCourt will discuss his life and works, followed by a book signing at Town Center Booksellers in Basalt on Tuesday, August 26th at 6:00 pm. A limited amount of tickets are available for purchase for $20 each by calling the Aspen Writers’ Foundation at 925.3122, or by visiting the online box office.

Frank McCourt

"F. Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American lives. I think I've proved him wrong. And all because I refused to settle for a one-act existence, the 30 years I taught English in various New York City high schools."
– Frank McCourt

Hardly a one-act existence, Frank McCourt’s life more accurately resembles a three-act play. Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Irish immigrant parents, McCourt grew up in Limerick, Ireland, experiencing a childhood full of poverty, hardships, and loss, which he would later describe in his best-selling memoir, Angela’s Ashes. By the age of 13, McCourt alternated between odd jobs and petty crime to feed himself and his family until returning to the United States at the age of 19. Though he did not have a high school education, McCourt convinced the admissions office at New York University to accept him as an undergrad where he studied creative writing. Upon graduation, McCourt went on to teach in the New York City Public School system. For the next thirty years, McCourt imparted his love of words and taught writing to New York City high school students, a career he chronicled in his memoir Teacher Man. Although writing all the while, McCourt’s career as an author did not embark until after retiring from teaching at the age of 66.
McCourt’s first book, Angela's Ashes, the international bestselling memoir that historian Thomas Cahill called, "such a marriage of pathos and humor that you never know whether to weep or roar — and find yourself doing both at once," won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the L.A. Times Book Award. His second book ‘Tis picks up where Angela’s Ashes left off, with his arrival in America at the age of 19. Like its predecessor, it was an instant bestseller along with his 2005 memoir, Teacher Man. His most recent work, Angela and the Baby Jesus, a Christmas story for all ages, was published in 2007. He lives with his wife, Ellen, in New York and Connecticut.

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The Aspen Writers’ Foundation, Colorado's oldest nonprofit literary organization, has been bringing readers and writers together since 1976.  The organization’s mission is to provide programs that encourage writers in their craft and readers in their appreciation of literature.  Through its repertoire of eight year-round programs, the Aspen Writers' Foundation annually serves 17,000+ literary enthusiasts of all ages. More information is available at www.aspenwriters.org.

Media contacts:
Lisa Consiglio
Nicole Hernandez
970.925.3122

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