Algonquin Books has announced In the Time of the Butterflies, an adaptation of Julia Alvarez‘s award-winning 1994 novel of the same name, created in collaboration with illustrator Krystal Quiles (The Coquíes Still Sing). Due out this fall, the graphic novel will retell the true story of the Mirabals, also known as Las Mariposas (the Butterflies), three Dominican sisters who were murdered in 1960 for their work opposing the dictator Rafael Trujillo (who was assassinated the following year.)
Alvarez states, “Krystal Quiles has made visible on the page the scenes, colors, tones, nuances — all that I imagined, and more, when I wrote the novel In the Time of the Butterflies over three decades ago. I am thrilled and deeply moved by her rendition of my novel. This young and brilliant artist is carrying the story further into graphic form, putting wings on the Butterflies for new generations of readers.”
Quiles comments, “I’m deeply honored to share my reimagining of Julia Alvarez’s captivating storytelling through In the Time of the Butterflies — a novel I treasure for the way it gives voice to the young women of past generations and continues to resonate with women’s voices today. I hope this retelling, in turn, continues to cultivate an awareness of our shared resilience and bravery when empowered by love.”
Sally Kim, president and publisher of Algonquin’s parent company Little, Brown, adds, “Algonquin has been publishing Julia Alvarez since her debut novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991). Her novels have touched the hearts of millions, with In the Time of the Butterflies, especially, catapulting Alvarez into the literary icon she is today. We are ecstatic to have the talented Krystal Quiles reimagine this remarkable novel, with Alvarez’s guidance, bringing the Mirabal sisters to life in graphic novel form to reach readers old and new.”
The graphic novel will be released in hardcover and as an ebook on September 1, 15 days before the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month. It will mark the first officially published comic by Quiles, a Bronx native who won the 2024 Best Spanish Language Picture Book prize for The Coquíes Still Sing; you can learn more about her and her work on her official website. This also marks the first graphic novel for Alvarez, 76, who was born in New York City, but grew up in the Dominican Republic — where her father was involved in the same plot against Trujillo as the Mirabels — until 1960.
The source material itself was previously adapted into a 2001 Showtime movie starring Salma Hayek as Minerva Mirabal, and Edward James Olmos as Trujillo. It was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1994, and was selected for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Big Read program. Alvarez has received numerous other honors, including the National Medal of Arts, and a profile on PBS’s American Masters, “Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined,” in 2024. Her last book, The Cemetery of Untold Stories, was also released in 2024.
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