Junot Diaz

A teen's quest for self-discovery in 'Maya's Notebook'

2013-04-27 08:00:00

Whatever happened to magic realism? The question arises when dipping into "Maya's Notebook," Isabel Allende's bruising, cinematically vivid new novel. It's an exercise in gritty realism rather than the fanciful folkloricism that Allende has been known...

Dagoberto Gilb discusses his new literary magazine, Huizache

2013-04-26 11:30:00

The writer Dagoberto Gilb is a believer in the literature of the American West and in the literature of the Latino United States. He’d prefer not to read any more novels that portray Latino people as stereotypical criminals and bumpkins. His own...

Adam Johnson wins the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for 2013

2013-04-15 12:28:00

The Pulitzer Prize in fiction, announced Monday, has been awarded to Adam Johnson for his book set in North Korea, "The Orphan Master's Son." The committee described the book as "an exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome...

Steve Jobs as adorable manga man

2013-03-27 15:23:00

Using Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography as a frame, award-winning author Mari Yamazaki has created a manga version of the life of Apple founder Steve Jobs. It's being serialized in the Japanese comic magazine Kiss, alongside tales of teen love....

Random House sees 'Fifty Shades' of profit, thanks to E.L. James

2013-03-27 08:31:00

Publishing giant Random House posted record profits last year, Publisher's Weekly reports. Thanks to E.L. James' "Fifty Shades" trilogy, revenue at the Bertelsmann-owned publisher exceeded $420 million in 2012 -- up a staggering 75% from the year before....

Stephen Colbert awards Junot Diaz the Nobel Prize?

2013-03-26 11:36:00

Stephen Colbert had author Junot Diaz on his show Monday night to talk about immigration. He introduced Diaz by saying, "My guest tonight won a Nobel Prize and a MacArthur Genius grant." Sure, Diaz has been racking up awards like nobody's business. He...

Story Prize goes to Claire Vaye Watkins

2013-03-13 17:35:00

Author Claire Vaye Watkins was awarded the Story Prize in New York on Wednesday evening for her debut collection, "Battleborn." As winner she receives $20,000. Two finalists for the prize -- Dan Chaon for "Stay Awake" and Junot Diaz for "This Is How You...

Literature Prize launches as $60,000 Folio Prize

2013-03-13 12:10:00

It's a big day for prize announcements: The Literature Prize announced its formation and sponsor Wednesday at a news conference at the British Library in London. The idea for the prize came into being when a group of British intellectuals took umbrage...

Lisa See is coming to the L.A. Times Festival of Books: Author Q&A

2013-03-05 09:11:00

The L.A. Times Festival of Books is on the horizon -- April 21-22, to be exact. In the coming weeks, we'll be talking to some of the authors who will be there; the first is bestselling novelist Lisa See. The author of "Dreams of Joy," "Snow Flower and...

National Book Critics Circle Award winners announced

2013-02-28 15:30:00

First-time novelist Ben Fountain won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction Thursday for “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” a darkly comic send-up of the emotional and cultural aftermath of the Iraq War. The awards were...

Searching for Proust in his papers -- and finding his mother

2013-02-27 16:58:00

A mother looms over the narrator — figuratively and literally — in Marcel Proust’s masterpiece, the seven-volume novel “In Search of Lost Time.” Not that it’s a big surprise, but thanks to an exhibit at the Morgan...

Toni Morrison hangs out at a digital book signing on Google+ today

2013-02-27 09:55:00

Call it, if you will, the virtual literary event of the year. Or of February at least. Toni Morrison, the grande dame of American letters, is holding what’s billed as a "first-of-its-kind digital book signing" Wednesday at noon PST (3 p.m. EST)....

In lyrical but unsentimental works of fiction, Diaz takes readers into a life lived somewhere between the Dominican Republic, where he was born, and the United States, where he has lived since he was a teenager.

2012-10-01 14:45:00

Junot Diaz, 43, a fiction writer who uses raw, vernacular dialogue and spare, unsentimental prose to draw readers into the various and distinct worlds that immigrants straddle.

2012-09-20 00:00:00

Author Junot Diaz

2012-08-26 00:00:00