The thing is, you try your best, and what else you got? You try your best, really, that's all you can do. And for me, my best happens really so rarely. Junot Diaz rarelything Change image and share on social
Artists are not cheerleaders, and we're not the heads of tourism boards. We expose and discuss what is problematic, what is contradictory, what is hurtful and what is silenced in the culture we're in. Junot Diaz artistboardcheerleader Change image and share on social
I'm not writing fairy tales or object lessons. Junot Diaz fairylessonobject Change image and share on social
I really am a believer that 99.99% of all the stories we need, not only as artists but as human beings, not only as writers but as readers, haven't been written yet. Certainly haven't been published yet. Junot Diaz artistbeingbeliever share on social
You see, in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway. Junot Diaz amazeeasilygolden share on social
When I enter that higher-order space that's required to write, I'm a better human. For whatever my writing is, wherever it's ranked, it definitely is the one place that I get to be beautiful. Junot Diaz beautifulenterhigh Change image and share on social
My African roots made me what I am today. They're the reason I exist at all. Junot Diaz africanexistmake Change image and share on social
Let me tell you, if I could write one-tenth as fast as some of my friends, I'd be made. I'd be it. But instead I happen to be, in the tree of life of writers, down at the bottom, with the hematodes. Junot Diaz bottomfastfriend Change image and share on social
For my first three books the setting (or place if you will) has always been a given - N.J. and the Dominican Republic and some N.Y.C. - so from one perspective you could say that the place in my work always comes first. Junot Diaz bookdominicanperspective share on social