“…Fiction tells a different kind of truth, the truth according to feelings rather than just the facts; that there is nothing shameful in being a complex human being; that a writer has to try to capture the fullness and variety of a family, a culture, a country, a situation, without picking out the problematic parts and touching up and beautifying that family, culture, country, situation.”

—Julia Alvarez, “On the Power of Telling Our Stories”©

Today, President Barack Obama awards the National Medal of Arts to Julia Alvarez for “her extraordinary storytelling.” It is an honor extraordinarily well-deserved, and we could not be prouder to be Julia’s publisher! Many, many congratulations!

Watch the White House ceremony live here: