Junot Diaz wins Pulitzer Prize

NEW YORK - Junot Díaz, a 40-year-old native of the Dominican Republic who moved to New Jersey as a boy, won the Pulitzer prize for fiction Monday for his novel "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao."

"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" revolves about Oscar, an obese comics fan growing up in Paterson, N.J., and his dysfunctional Dominican family, going back to the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship.
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: "Tree of Smoke" by Denis Johnson, and "Shakespeare's Kitchen" by Lore Segal.

Up until Monday, the only U.S. Latino writer to ever receive the Pulitzer Prize in literature was Oscar Hijuelos, for “The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love,” published in 1989.
Another Latino, Michael Ramirez of Investor's Business Daily won in the editorial cartooning category.
This the second Pulitzer for the California-based cartoonist, who first won it in 1994. Ramirez's father was first generation Mexican-American; his mother is Japanese
The Prize for drama was awarded to Tracy Letts for his dark comedy, "August: Osage County." Bob Dylan won a special music citation.
The awards carry a prize of $10,000.

FOOTNOTE.

Congratulations Junot, this is your year! And what great news for the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival (May 14 - May 18) who have Oscar as one of their star guests.Book now!

Bookman Beattie reviewed The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in December last.

And to read The New York Times coverage, superb as always..........