Feb. 3, 2009 at 10:44pm with 14 notes
interview with junot diaz.

Junot Diaz and his extraordinary second book, the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, have had an exceptional past year. In addition to critical acclaim and commercial success, Diaz won the Pulitzer prize for his work and quickly ascended to rock star status in the literary world. This past weekend i was lucky enough to trade emails with him from his current book tour stop in Cartagena, Colombia. I hope you enjoy the short interview that follows.

Bailey Kennedy: In the past you’ve mentioned that you became a writer because it’s another way to be involved with reading. Can you think of any defining moments when your relationship with reading and books began?

Junot Diaz: Of course there are a few I’ve mentioned before in interviews but I remember the day, not long after I immigrated to NJ, that I laid eyes on our town’s bookmobile, the only venue for books we had in our neighborhood and I’ll never forget walking inside and realizing that i could take anything, absolutely anything from that bus, with a library card. Which of course i didn’t have.

BK: It having been 10 years since the publication of your first book, Drown, I’m curious to know how you felt releasing The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. In the week leading up to its release, what was most on your mind?

JD: 11 years actually. And it was simple twin helix: first, how much of my life I’d lost on this book and second, what in the world had I written?

BK: What aspects of Oscar’s personality, if any, do you most identify with?

JD: His love of reading clearly. His apocalyptic fantasies. OK, I’m running out.

BK: What are you reading right now?

JD: Ekaterina Sedia’s THE ALCHEMY OF STONE. Cool as fuck.

BK: What books coming out in 2009 are you most excited about?

JD:I wish i knew any books coming out in 2009. For real, I got so detached from the business during that 11 year stretch … and I haven’t returned yet. Might never really. It’s for the young to keep up with those things before hand. I learn about books primarily when i find them on bookshelves and when i read about them in papers or online.

BK: Writers are known to be fastidious about maintaining a writing process. You’ve joked about doing pretty much anything to avoid writing—what helps you get the words down on paper?

JD: Nothing helps.

BK: If you could have the chance to grab drinks with any writer, dead or alive, who would you pick?

JD: Clarice Lispector. She just seems balls-out awesome. A beautiful writer, a beautiful soul. The battles she fought, the pain she endured, the books she wrote.

BK: In both Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao you describe Dominican food at length. Can you recommend any good NYC area spots to those of us whose interest has been piqued?

JD: I actually don’t write well about food at all. But go to Margot up on Broadway. You can’t go wrong.

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