Hernan Diaz (writer)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/Hernan_Diaz%2C_May_2022_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Hernan_Diaz%2C_May_2022_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Hernan Diaz (born 1973) is an Argentine-American writer.[1] His 2017 novel In the Distance was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction,[2] as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.[3] He also received a Whiting Award.[4] For his second novel Trust, he was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Personal life
[edit]Diaz was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When he was two, his family moved to Sweden after the military coup.[5] His family returned to Argentina after democracy was restored in 1983. Diaz was interested in writing at an early age, and even "pretended" to write, showing his parents his "stories."[6] After obtaining a Licenciate degree in Literature (Licenciatura en Letras) in the University of Buenos Aires, Diaz moved to London to study a MA degree at King's College.[7]
Diaz moved to New York in 1999 for additional studies. He received his PhD from New York University, advised by Avital Ronell and Sylvia Molloy. He filed a dissertation on a topic that straddles comparative literature, Latin American literature, and philosophy.[8][9][10]
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.[11]
Career
[edit]Diaz has received fellowships from the New York Public Library's Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Ingmar Bergman Estate.[8]
Diaz has published two novels, which have been published in more than 20 languages.[8] His essays and short stories have been published in The Paris Review, Granta, Playboy, The Yale Review, and McSweeney's.
Aside from his writing, he is the associate director of the Hispanic Institute for Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University, and serves as the managing editor of the Spanish-language journal Revista Hispánica Moderna.[12][8]
In 2019, he won a Whiting Award, which provides "$50,000 each to ten diverse emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama."[4] The award is provided "based on the criteria of early-career achievement and the promise of superior literary work to come."[4]
His second novel, Trust, won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize.[13] It was also named one of the "10 Best Books of 2022" by The Washington Post[14] and The New York Times.[15]
Selected works
[edit]Borges, Between History and Eternity (2012)
[edit]Borges, Between History and Eternity was published by Continuum on August 2, 2012. The book considers "key aspects of Borges's work — the reciprocal determinations of politics, philosophy and literature; the simultaneously confining and emancipating nature of language; and the incipient program for a literature of the Americas."[16]
In the Distance (2017)
[edit]In the Distance was published on October 10, 2017 by Coffee House Press.
Publishers Weekly,[17] Feminist Press,[18] PANK,[19] and The Paris Review[20] named it one of the top books of 2017, and Literary Hub named it one of "The 20 Best Novels of the Decade."[21]
The book has received the following accolades:
- William Saroyan International Prize for Writing for Fiction (2018)[22]
- VCU Cabell First Novelist Award (2018)[12]
- Prix Page America Award (2018)[23]
- New American Voices Award (2018)[24]
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist (2018)[2]
- PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction finalist (2018)[3]
Trust (2022)
[edit]Trust was published by Riverhead Books on May 3, 2022. It received the 2022 Kirkus Prize[25] and 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Publications
[edit]Novels
[edit]- In the Distance (2017), ISBN 978-1-56689-488-3 [26]
- Trust (2022), ISBN 9780593420317 [27][28][29]
Nonfiction books
[edit]- Borges, Between History and Eternity (2012), ISBN 9781441197795
Short stories
[edit]- "The Wife of the Lion" (2018) in The Kenyon Review
- "1,111 Emblems" (2018) in Playboy
- "'I Am Going to Speak to You about Anxiety'" (2018) in Granta
- "The Stay" (2018) in The Paris Review
- "The World of Interiors" (2022) in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern
- "The Generation" (2022) in The Atlantic
- "Triptych" (2023) in Harper's Magazine
Essays
[edit]- "On Making Oneself Less Unreadable" (2017) in The Paris Review
- "If I Had a Sense of Beauty" (2017) in The Paris Review
- "Monument" (2017) on Kadist
- "On Joanna Walsh's Worlds from the Word's End" (2017) on Publishers Weekly
- "Who Gets to Be a Mad Scientist?" (2018) in The Paris Review
- "On Frankenstein, A Monster of a Book" (2018) in The Paris Review
- "We Stigmatize Accents, But Language Belongs To Everyone" (2018) on PBS NewsHour
- "A Year In Reading" (2018) on The Millions
- "Tove Jansson's 'The Island'" (2019) in The Paris Review (translation)
- "Tove Jansson's 'Once, At A Park'" (2019) in The Paris Review (translation)
- "A Reading List On Loneliness" (2020) in Electric Literature
- "The Heart of Fiction" (2021) in The Yale Review
- "Contemporary Authors On Their Favorite New York City Novels" (2022) in The New York Times
- "Let Me Tell You a True Story" (2023) on BookPage
References
[edit]- ^ "Hernán Díaz, premio Pulitzer: "Mi historia también es la de un inmigrante en Estados Unidos"" (in Spanish). Infobae. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
Yo también soy un inmigrante. No nací en Estados Unidos; entré con una visa hace muchos y ahora soy ciudadano. Mi historia también es la de un inmigrante. [...] A los dos años me fui de Argentina y después volví. English: My story is the story of an immigrant too. I entered to USA with an Immigrant visa and now I'm naturalized citizen. [...] I was born and lived again in Argentina until I was two and then return after...
- ^ a b "Fiction". The Pulitzer Prizes. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ a b "Past Award Winners & Finalists". The PEN/Faulkner Foundation. Archived from the original on 2021-12-31. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ a b c "Announcing the 2019 Whiting Award Winners". Literary Hub. 2019-03-20. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ Downes, Lawrence (2018-05-02). "A Debut Novel. A Tiny Press. A Pulitzer Finalist". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2024-04-24. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
- ^ Beard, Alison (2024-05-01). "Life's Work: An Interview with Hernan Diaz". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- ^ "We stigmatize accents, but language belongs to everyone". PBS NewsHour. 2018-07-03. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ a b c d "Bio". Hernan Diaz. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ "Between the Covers Hernan Diaz Interview". Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- ^ https://bobcat.library.nyu.edu/permalink/f/ci13eu/nyu_aleph003147773
- ^ Downes, Lawrence (2018-05-02). "A Debut Novel. A Tiny Press. A Pulitzer Finalist". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- ^ a b McNeill, Brian. "Hernán Díaz, author of 'In the Distance,' wins VCU Cabell First Novelist Award". Virginia Commonweath University News. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ Shaffi, Sarah (26 July 2022). "Booker prize longlist of 13 writers aged 20 to 87 announced". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ "The 10 Best Books of 2022". The Washington Post. November 17, 2022. Archived from the original on November 27, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
- ^ "The 10 Best Books of 2022". The New York Times. November 29, 2022. Archived from the original on November 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
- ^ "Borges, Between History and Eternity | Seminary Co-op Bookstores". www.semcoop.com. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- ^ "Best Books 2017 Publishers Weekly". PublishersWeekly.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-08. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ "FP Staff Picks: The Best Books of 2017". Feminist Press. 18 December 2017. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ "Best Books of 2017". [PANK]. 2017-12-21. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ "The Paris Review Staff's Favorite Books of 2017". The Paris Review. 2017-12-22. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ Temple, Emily (2019-12-23). "The 20 Best Novels of the Decade". Literary Hub. Archived from the original on 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ ""In the Distance" and "On Trails" win the 2018 Stanford Libraries' William Saroyan International Prize for Writing". William Saroyan Foundation. 2019-01-14. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ "C.K. Williams Reading Series: Hernan Diaz". Lewis Center for the Arts. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ "The New American Voices Award". Institute for Immigration Research. Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
- ^ "2022 Winners". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 2023-05-02. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
- ^ Downes, Lawrence (2018-05-02). "A Debut Novel. A Tiny Press. A Pulitzer Finalist". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ "You can't 'Trust' this novel. And that's a very good thing". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ Gorra, Michael (2022-04-28). "The Secrets of an American Fortune, Told Four Ways". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
- ^ "Hernan Diaz on 'Trust' and Money in Fiction". The New York Times. 2022-05-07. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2022-05-13.