​When We Are Bold

Julia Alvarez is a writer who was born in New York City to Dominican parents, and raised between the two countries. Her father, an activist who resisted the Trujillo dictatorship, was forced to flee to the US with their family in 1960. In 1994 Alvarez published In the Time of the Butterflies, a novel recounting the story of the Mirabel sisters. She has written 22 books, including novels, nonfiction and works of poetry and stories for young readers of all ages.

Read Mirabal Sisters: The Butterfly Effect 
by Julia Alvarez in When We Are Bold: Women Who Turn Our Upsidedown World Right

The Mirabal Sisters were four sisters from the Dominican Republic who led an opposition movement against the brutal dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the late 1950s. On November 25, 1960, three of the four sisters were murdered on orders from Trujillo. Their death sparked outrage across the country and eventually led to Trujillo’s assassination. In their honour, the United Nations in 1999 designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.