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So far, he’d failed at that task, Fernandez said. “It’s not extra, it just is.”įor Hugo Fernandez, a Cal State Long Beach student working on a children’s book, one of Díaz’s messages - don’t lose faith - resonated. Sandra Valle, a 38-year-old who works in education, said she was inspired by Díaz’s unapologetic style, particularly his reference to white supremacy during his talk. “We everywhere,” the author said, smiling. “Any Dominicans in here?” he asked, drawing loud whoops. Throughout the talk, Díaz - a self-proclaimed nerd with a habit of rubbing his palm against his right knee as he speaks - engaged the crowd. “I had one of those childhoods you don’t want to give to children,” he said, adding that the tour provoked him to write the New Yorker piece. It’s the revenant that won’t stop, the ghost that’s always coming for you.”ĭuring his “Islandborn” tour, the author met so many children who seemed so deeply loved. “Trauma,” Díaz wrote, “is stronger than any mask it can’t be buried and it can’t be killed. In the piece, he discusses being raped at age 8 and how the violation seeped into every part, and every phase, of his life. “I needed an artist who grew up in a black hair salon.”ĭuring the conversation, Díaz alluded to a personal essay he wrote for the New Yorker this month. “White supremacy has been incredibly malignant,” he said.
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Many depictions of Afro Caribbeans “are beyond discouraging,” he said, noting that he was very particular in picking a collaborator to illustrate his book. “They know that there are monsters, for real.”ĭíaz, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” spoke about the importance of representation in literature. “Children are incredibly resilient,” he said.