Junot Díaz

about the author

Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Biography
Press

Junot Díaz can now add the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction to an already long list of accolades that have been awarded to his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. A true literary triumph, this heartbreaking, at times hilarious, always dazzling story of the endless human capacity to persevere in the name of love confirms Díaz as one of the best and most exciting literary voices of our time.

The book received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction earlier this year, won the Mercantile Library Center’s John Sargent Prize for First Novel, and was a 2007 New York Public Library “Book to Remember.” In addition, Díaz’s novel was named a best book of 2007 by The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Daily News, and a host of other top dailies. It was also chosen as one of the top ten books of the year by Time, People, and Entertainment Weekly, among others.

In her review of the book for The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani wrote, “Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a wondrous, not-so-brief first novel that is so original it can only be described as Mario Vargas Llosa meets Star Trek meets David Foster Wallace meets Kanye West. It is funny, street-smart and keenly observed… An extraordinarily vibrant book.” Time magazine called it “astoundingly great” and “the novel of the year.”

Díaz’s debut short story collection, Drown, was also a publishing sensation and is now a landmark of contemporary literature. His short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The Best American Short Stories.

Díaz was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. He now lives in New York City and Boston, where he teaches at MIT.

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