Rafael Alvarez

Infobox Writer


imagesize = 150px
name = Rafael Alvarez
caption =
pseudonym =
birthdate = May 24 1958
birthplace = United States
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Journalist, Television Writer
nationality = American
period =
genre =
notableworks = "The Fountain of Highlandtown"
subject = Short fiction, Non-fiction
movement =
influences =
influenced =


website = :"For the Spanish diver, see Rafael Álvarez"Rafael Alvarez (born May 24, 1958Cite web|url=http://www.alvarezfiction.com/about.html|title=About the Author|accessdate=2007-10-14|publisher=alvarezfiction.com|year=2007] ) is a journalist, author and television producer and writer.

Alvarez worked as a city desk reporter for the "Baltimore Sun" for twenty yearsCite web|url=http://www.hbo.com/thewire/cast/crew/rafael_alvarez.shtml|title=Rafael Alvarez biography|accessdate=2007-10-14|publisher=HBO|year=2007] The "Sun" has published two anthologies of his journalism entitled "Hometown Boy" (1999) [cite book
last = Alvarez
first = Rafael
year = 1999
title = Hometown Boy
publisher = Baltimore Sun
location = Baltimore, Maryland] and "Storyteller" (2001). [cite book
last = Alvarez
first = Rafael
year = 2001
title = Storyteller
publisher = Baltimore Sun
location = Baltimore, Maryland] Alvarez is not originally from Highlandtown and Baltimore City. He was born at St. Agnes Hospital, reared in suburban Linthicum, and graduated in 1976 from Mount St. Joseph High School, a private Catholic boys' school in Irvington. He moved into the city while attending Loyola College, bought a home on North Ellwood Avenue in East Baltimore in 1980, and moved into his paternal grandparents' house in Greektown in 1989. He began his journalism career in 1977 working as a truck dispatcher for the Baltimore Sun and then doing the box scores for the sports desk. In 1981, he transferred to the city desk and learned to cover the police beat. In 2008, from January to April, he wrote a weekly column for The Baltimore Examiner.

Alvarez also writes fiction and has had two collections of short fiction published; "The Fountain of Highlandtown" (1997) [cite book
last = Alvarez
first = Rafael
year = 1997
title = The Fountain of Highlandtown
publisher = Woodholme House Publishers
location = Baltimore, Maryland] and "Orlo and Leini" (2001). [cite book
last = Alvarez
first = Rafael
year = 2001
title = Orlo and Leini
publisher = Woodholme House Publishers
location = Baltimore, Maryland] The former includes the autobiographical short story "The Fountain of Highlandtown" which won the Baltimore City's Artscape Award for the short story. Alvarez is at work on another short story collection called "Sea Stories". He credits his time as a journalist with providing him with a wealth of information to use in his fiction.Cite web|url=http://www.examiner.com/a-960050~The_3_minute_interview__Rafael_Alvarez.html|title=The 3-minute interview: Rafael Alvarez|accessdate=2007-10-14|publisher=The Examiner|year=2007|author=Kelsey Volkmann] He has also published the non-fiction anniversary book,"First and Forever: The Archdiocese of Baltimore, A People's History". [cite book
last = Alvarez
first = Rafael
year = 2006
title = First and Forever: The Archdiocese of Baltimore, A People's History
publisher = Editions Du Signe
location = Baltimore, Maryland] He contributed three short stories to the collection "Out of Tune" (2006). [cite book
last =
first = Rafael Alvarez, Jason Tinney, Sofia Alvarez, and Airin Miller
year = 2006
title = Out of Tune
publisher = Hilliard & Harris Publishers
location = Baltimore, Maryland] Cite web|url=http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=13014|title=Out Of Tune Debuts|accessdate=2007-10-14|publisher=Baltimore City Paper|year=2007|author=Bret McCabe] The project also includes stories by Alvarez's daughter Sofia, Baltimore musician Jason Tinney, Rosalia Scalia and Airin Miller.

In 2001, Alvarez left the Baltimore Sun and joined the Seafarers International Union with the intention of working on ships. He has since worked as a writer/producer on several television shows. Alvarez first worked in television as a freelance screenwriter on "" contributing the teleplay for the sixth season episode "All is Bright".cite episode
title = All is Bright
episodelink =
series = Homicide: Life on the Street
serieslink = Homicide: Life on the Street
credits = Matt Reeves
writers = Julie Martin, James Yoshimura, Rafael Alvarez
network = NBC
station =
city =
airdate = 1997-12-12
season = 6
number = 08] The show was based on a book by his former "Sun" colleague David Simon who was working as a producer on the sixth season in 1997 when Alvarez was hired.

Alvarez worked with Simon again as a writer on "The Wire". He was credited as a staff writer for the second season.Cite web|url=http://www.hbo.com/thewire/cast/crew/season_2.shtml|title=Season 2 Crew|accessdate=2007-10-14|publisher=HBO|year=2007] He contributed a teleplay for an episode in each of the first three seasons including "One Arrest",

cite web
year = 2004
title = Episode guide - episode 07 The Wire
publisher = HBO
accessdate = 2006-08-02
url = http://www.hbo.com/thewire/episode/season1/episode07.shtml] cite episode
title = One Arrest
episodelink = One Arrest (The Wire episode)
series = The Wire
serieslink = The Wire (TV series)
credits = David Simon, Rafael Alvarez
writers =
network = HBO
station =
city =
airdate = 2002-07-21
season = 1
number = 7] "Backwash"cite web
year = 2004
title = Episode guide - episode 20 backwash
publisher = HBO
accessdate = 2006-06-22
url = http://www.hbo.com/thewire/episode/season2/episode07.shtml] cite episode
title = Backwash
episodelink = Backwash (The Wire episode)
series = The Wire
serieslink = The Wire (TV series)
credits = David Simon, Rafael Alvarez
writers =
network = HBO
station =
city =
airdate = 2003-07-13
season = 2
number = 07] and "Homecoming".cite web
year = 2004
title = Episode guide - episode 31 Homecoming
publisher = HBO
accessdate = 2006-08-09
url = http://www.hbo.com/thewire/episode/season3/episode06.shtml] cite episode
title = Homecoming
episodelink = Homecoming (The Wire episode)
series = The Wire
serieslink = The Wire (TV series)
credits = David Simon, Rafael Alvarez
writers =
network = HBO
station =
city =
airdate = 2004-10-24
season = 3
number = 06] Alvarez also wrote a guide book on the series called "The Wire: Truth be Told". [cite book
last = Alvarez
first = Rafael
year = 2004
title = The Wire: Truth Be Told
publisher = Pocket Books
location = New York] Simon credits Alvarez with bringing a wealth of experience to their depiction of the Baltimore port in the show's second season.cite web
last = Goldman
first = Eric
title = IGN Exclusive Interview: The Wire's David Simon
publisher = IGN
accessdate = 2007-09-27
url = http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/742/742350p1.html] Alvarez described "The Wire" as similar to a Russian novel in that "the reader does the work for the first hundred pages, and then it turns and you’re lost in it [.] With "The Wire," it might be Episode 6 before it turns and you’re in.”Cite web|url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/22/071022fa_fact_talbot?currentPage=1|title=Stealing Life|accessdate=2007-10-28|publisher=The New Yorker|year=2007|author=Margaret Talbot]

He left "The Wire's" writing staff after the show's third season. He now splits his time between Baltimore and Los Angeles. He worked as a staff writer and producer on Andre Braugher's FX cable mini-series, "Thief". He worked on Paul Haggis' NBC drama "The Black Donnellys".Cite web|url=http://www.nbc.com/The_Black_Donnellys/about/|title=The Black Donnellys|accessdate=2007-10-14|publisher=NBC|year=2007] He was credited as a producer and wrote the episode "In Each One a Saviour".cite episode
title = In Each One a Saviour
episodelink =
series = The Black Donnellys
serieslink = The Black Donnellys
credits = Anthony Hemingway
writers = Rafael Alvarez, Mick Betancourt
network = NBC
station =
city =
airdate = 2007-09-04
season = 1
number = 08]

Alvarez also wrote a pilot called "Panic in Detroit" for NBC. Based on this piece, they hired him to work on "Life" as a writer and producer.Cite web|url=http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/critics/blog/2007/05/alvarez_gets_life_a_new_nbc_fa.html|title=Alvarez gets Life -- a new NBC fall series|accessdate=2007-10-14|publisher=The Baltimore Sun|year=2007|author=David Zurawik]

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