Porter Square Books is a bookstore in Cambridge that I’d never heard of until my fiction professor told me Junot Diaz was going to be reading there. Diaz is one of the most acclaimed writers of the present day. He was recently made a 2012 McArthur Fellow, was awarded three other fellowships including the Guggenheim Fellowship, which are amongst other awards. Seeing someone of his stature read his work aloud was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Diaz is currently teaching creative writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology making him a “local author.” For writers and readers, to be able to identify Junot Diaz as a part of the local talent added more excitement to the event. Diaz started the event by asking the audience to raise their hand if they were from New Jersey and the Dominican Republic, where he sets his stories.
The event was in promotion of Diaz’s new collection of short
stories, “This is How you Lose Her,” which consists of nine stories all in regards
to love and relationships. He even brings back his frequently used main
characters, Yunior and his older brother, Rafa.The event started with the Q&A, in which Diaz described
his belief in the arts and in his own work. “If you’re in this to make money,” Diaz said in response to
a question by an audience member, “You’re probably not going to be able to
write anything you believe in. If I write what I believe in, at the end of the
day I feel like I can at least be proud of it.” One of the stories Diaz shared
was describing his desire to read as a young child, and the librarian at his
school. Diaz didn’t speak English and the librarian didn’t speak Spanish, but
he expressed his awe of her determination to teach him how the library worked,
just because she thought that everybody had a right to read books. Many of the questions were in regards to Diaz’s status as a
Dominican-American author and he took the opportunity to share his thoughts on
racism in the United States. “When you’re an immigrant, you’ll always be an immigrant.
Every sentence I say I still double-check it in my head, and I’ve been here
since I was six.”
After the Q&A, Diaz read from his novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Oscar
is a token nerd; he’s a fantasy writer who has written several novels by the
time he leaves home for college, he’s overweight, he’s awkward, and guilty of
the worst thing a Dominican man can be guilty of; he’s bad at playing women.
The story also parallels with Oscar’s family’s past in the Dominican Republic and
how it affects Oscar’s future. He tells the story through Yunior, who knew
Oscar in college and later writes Oscar’s story. All of Diaz’s work has Spanish
language and cultural references, which are all able to be understood with
context.
Diaz’s belief in the arts came through in the second Q&A
section, where he expressed that the purpose of art is to “rehumanize
humanity.” He voiced something that I think we all feel as writers and artists;
believe in what you do and other people will too.
Porter Square Books hosts readings and book events regularly;
just the day before Diaz’s reading, they hosted the acclaimed children’s author
Lois Lowry. Other events can be found at http://www.portersquarebooks.com/event.
By Carrie Cabral
