I do think that books are invaluable as a reservoir of what we call the human space. And this is why I think that, even if they're threatened, the work that they do has an incalculable merit. Junot Diaz More Quotes by Junot Diaz More Quotes From Junot Diaz I really am a believer that 99.99% of all the stories we need, not only as artists but as human beings, not only as writers but as readers, haven't been written yet. Certainly haven't been published yet. Junot Diaz artiststoriesneeds I mean, the nation in which we live - and the world in which we live - is so extraordinarily more like a future than the futures that we're being sold on the screen and on television. Junot Diaz meantelevisionworld I mean in the community that I grew up in, you know, a very, you know, mixed, almost entirely African Diaspora community, one of the things that we were not ever supposed to say was how much self-hatred and colorism determined and guided what we would call our desire. In other words, what we would consider beautiful. Junot Diaz selfbeautifulmean I always had a sense that I would fall in love with Tokyo. In retrospect I guess it's not that surprising. I was of the generation that had grown up in the '80s when Japan was ascendant (born aloft by a bubble whose burst crippled its economy for decades), and I'd fed on a steady diet of anime and samurai films. Junot Diaz animejapanfalling-in-love '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. Junot Diaz genrestoriesbook A young person, or someone who's writing in a different way - in some ways you could say, eventually someone will find them. Eventually someone will hear them. But it's good a lot of young people persevere. Because sometimes you have to send something out a thousand times before anyone recognizes your value. Junot Diaz differentwritingpeople 'A Princess of Mars' may not have exerted the same colossal pull that Tarzan had on the global imagination, but its influence on generations of readers cannot be underestimated. Junot Diaz princessgenerationsimagination I write very, very slowly, and for me, I have to summon all sorts of resources to make one of these pieces work. Junot Diaz resourcespieceswriting I have three storage units, and that's no lie. Three storage units. All books. Junot Diaz threebooklying I was, as a kid, really obsessed with reading... that was about as geeky as you could possibly get. Junot Diaz obsessedreadingkids I am a person who dreads any kind of public exposure and any kind of public event. I spend all day, if I have to do a reading, preparing. Junot Diaz eventskindreading Genre might certainly increase some of your narrative freedoms, but it also diminishes others. That's the nature of genre. Junot Diaz increasenarrativemight Books don't live and die by awards. You don't listen to an Hector Lavoe album because it won some awards. Junot Diaz albumsawardsbook Being an author is always like being a well-run dictatorship - it's all one person speaking. Junot Diaz wellsdictatorshiprunning I discovered early that as an artist there was absolutely nothing wrong with being surrounded by people who were not dedicated to your field. Junot Diaz fieldsartistpeople When I got heartbroken at 20, it just felt like someone had spiraled a football right into my skull. At 40, it feels like someone had driven a 757 right through me. Junot Diaz heartbrokenskullsfootball Infidelity raises profound questions about intimacy. Junot Diaz infidelityintimacyprofound My African roots made me what I am today. They're the reason I exist at all. Junot Diaz rootsreasontoday I can always tell if someone's from Harvard because they trot out their vitae. I would die at Harvard. Junot Diaz harvarddiesifs I didn't start writing until late high school and then I was just diddling. Mainly I loved to read and my writing was an outgrowth of that. Junot Diaz high-schoolwritingschool
