My guest tonight is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author
who has written his first children's book
called Islandborn.
Please welcome Junot Díaz!
(cheers and applause)
Welcome to the show.
Thank you so much.
Uh, this is, uh, quite an adventure for you,
writing your first children's book.
A lot of people know your work,
the Pulitzer for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
And you are an author who is prolific.
You are known for writing amazing stories
that connect, not only to the immigrant experience,
but to the American experience,
because everyone comes here from somewhere.
What made you go with a children's book?
-I mean, that's-that quite a departure for you. -Yeah.
I have, uh, a lot of godchildren.
I've got two goddaughters who, about 20 years ago,
asked me to write them a book about them.
They're Dominican, live up in the Bronx.
And I said I would.
And it took me, uh, 20 years
-to-to actually write it. -Wow.
-Yeah. -(laughter)
So, they're like... they're like godparents themselves now.
Yeah, man. One of them's, like, a lawyer.
They're mad grown. They're...
I like the idea that she threatened to sue you.
She's like, "Yeah, I don't know if you noticed here,
you promised this, and now you've been served."
I think she's just embarrassed.
She's like, "Man, it took you forever.
-You're lame, yo." -Yeah, but I...
It has paid off, though.
You've written a story about a fascinating little girl,
and for those who've never read the book,
and for those who want to get into it,
what is Islandborn about, in your words?
It's about a little girl who, um, grows up
in an immigrant community.
She immigrated from the island
before, uh, she could remember anything.
And the book is about her teacher asking
all these students to draw a picture
of their first country.
-'Cause it's a school of immigrant kids. -Right.
And she can't remember, and she decides to figure out
what this place that she comes from
-but she can't remember was like. -Right.
And it's funny that she has to remember a place
that she never was, because in many ways,
although it's a children's book, I feel like it touches on themes
that we can all relate to, especially if you live
in a country that you're not originally from.
In the story, you've got Lola going around,
trying to figure out what pieces she has
of the island inside her.
Was there some of the experience...
was some of the experience inspired by...
by the life that you've lived
or the life of the people around you?
Yeah. I mean, part of this has everything to do
with how many people we know who carry other worlds with them.
They live one, two, three, four worlds,
and in the United States, it's sort of you're encouraged
to get rid of all those other worlds
and to imagine that you only exist in one,
but it's not true.
And so I kind of wanted to write about a little girl
who's surrounded by people who live in multiple worlds,
trying to discover what it means to be able to join that,
to have other worlds to draw upon.
It's interesting that you say people are, you know,
conditioned or encouraged to forget the other world.
You're American now, you know? This is America.
This is your-- don't talk about the Dominican Republic, be in...
this is... this is the only country that matters to you.
Recently, we saw, uh...
the phrase, um, "a nation of immigrants"
-(laughs): Right. -being taken out of, you know,
America's immigration... the department.
When you see "a nation of immigrants" being removed.
when you are an immigrant, when you grew up in a community
that calls America home and appreciates that journey,
how does that make you feel?
Is that something that worries you?
Is that something that scares you?
Yeah. I mean, first thing, if they had removed that
to just kind of give a more accurate description--
"America is a white settler colony nation"--
that would have been nice.
-But really they did it to kind of... -(laughter)
no, really they did it to sort of pursue
this anti-immigrant, kind of racist line.
And look, man, uh, white people didn't just materialize
-in this hemisphere. -Right.
You know? All these folks, if you're not indigenous,
you're part of this thing that we call "immigration,"
and not wanting to recognize it not only erases
the bloody history of why we're here,
but also is such a rank attack on the communities
that have really powered this nation.
When we go back to the story of Lola, you...
you realize that there is this weird melding of two ideas
in Islandborn, and that is:
bringing a piece of your world into America,
and then having America influence
what your world means and is.
Did you find that happening in your life?
Because you came over at a young age,
and then you became a U.S. citizen,
I believe, at the age of 20.
Like, how did you find that balance between going,
"I'm from the Dominican Republic,
but I'm also American"?
You know, what helps is that so many people
-have gone through it, you know? -Right.
Usually when you're experiencing,
you think you're the only one,
you're wrestling with the formula,
you're like, how much can I be Dominican,
how much can I be from New Jersey?
But if you look around, you realize lots of people
are wrestling with this, there's a lot of precedence.
And what really helps is to think of it
not as some weird, bizarre buffet
where you only get one damn choice.
That's, like, a sinister, sadistic buffet.
How about you get to choose more than one thing?
-Right. -That you could literally be Dominican
and from New Jersey and there's no conflict.
Fill the damn plate, yo, fill the plate.
-You know? -(laughter, applause)
"Fill the damn plate, yo, fill the damn plate."
-Thank you so much for being on the show. -Thank you, Trevor.
Thank you for writing an amazing book.
Islandborn comes out March 13.
Junot Díaz, everybody.