I'm sure I'm one of those undiagnosed people with social anxiety.
From Junot Diaz
It took me 11 years to struggle through one dumb book, and every day you just want to give up. But you don't find out you're an artist because you do something really well.
I can always tell if someone's from Harvard because they trot out their vitae. I would die at Harvard.
To an outsider, I just seem like a list of accomplishments. To me, all there is is how often I fail.
New Jersey for me is so alive with history. It's old, dynamic, African-American, Latino.
I write for the people I grew up with. I took extreme pains for my book to not be a native informant. Not: 'This is Dominican food. This is a Spanish word.' I trust my readers, even non-Spanish ones.
You never forget the discovery years. First kisses. The first time you try certain foods.
My father was a trigamist; he supported three families. We were never not poor.
Being an author is always like being a well-run dictatorship - it's all one person speaking.
'Drown' was always a hybrid book. It's connected stories - partially a story collection but partially a novel. I always wanted the reader to decide which genre they thought the book belonged to more - story, novel, neither, both.
6 perspectives
5 perspectives
4 perspectives
2 perspectives
1 perspectives