Adult selection

Book and Author Information

About the Author: Junot Diaz was born in the late 1960's in the Dominican Republic. His family emigrated to the United States in 1974, and he and his siblings were raised in the Perth Amboy area of New Jersey. He graduated from Rutgers University in 1992 and is currently a professor in the MIT Program of Writing and Humanistic Studies. His first full-length publication, a collection of short stories entitled Drown, was released in 1996 to critical acclaim. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is Junot Diaz's first novel.

• Ellison, Jesse. "I'm Nobody or I'm a Nation." Newsweek. 3 Apr 2008. http://www.newsweek.com/id/130350/output/print
• Lopez, Adriana V. "The Importance of Being Junot: A Pulitzer, Spanglish, and Oscar Wao." Criticas. 1 Nov 2008. http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6606942.html
• Stetler, Carrie. "Pulitzer Winner Stays True to New Jersey Roots." The Star-Ledger. 8 Apr 2008. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/pulitzer_winner_stays_true_to.html.
• Podcast (audio only) of Junot Diaz reading from The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao: http://www.kwls.org/lit/podcasts/2008/01/junot_diaz_january_18_2008.cfm

Awards for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao:
Dayton Literary Peace Prize (2008)
John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize
National Book Critics Circle Award for best novel (2007)
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2008)

Listed as the year's best novel by Time and New York Magazine (2007)

Themes:
Latin America
Dominican Republic
Immigrant families
Nationalism
Family histories
Family curses
Family dynamics