Junot's Wao Wows 'Em at the NBCC
Junot Díaz was awarded the 2007 National Book Critics Circle award for fiction last Thursday, for his first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. We've got a free podcast of him reading from the novel during the Seminar this past January here. My reaction to reading the book (in which I make the same pun, apologies) is here. This is great news for Mr. Díaz, and no doubt a relief for his publisher, Riverhead Books, who has received somewhat less approval for the work of its author Margaret B. Jones/Seltzer. She's the fraudulent memoirist exposed by the Times just one week after a fairly glowing review. As we approach next year's Seminar, Historical Fiction and The Search for Truth, I'll certainly be giving the fake memoir phenomenon some more thought. For now, congratulations to Junot for doing it right, weaving together historical fact, personal life, and straight imagination, in that time-tested vessel, the novel.
The journal of the Key West Literary Seminar features recordings from our
audio archives, exclusive interviews, essays, news about the Seminar, and
dispatches from Key West's literary past and present. It is created by Arlo
Haskell. Send email to arlo [at] kwls [dot] org
Each January, we explore a different literary theme through lectures, panel presentations, readings, informal gatherings, and discussions. In January 2011, we explore food in literature with our 29th annual Seminar, THE HUNGRY MUSE.
C O N N E C T
S U B S C R I B E
Audio recordings on this page and elsewhere on www.kwls.org are being made
available for educational and noncommmercial use only. All rights to the recorded
material belong to the author or authors speaking. © 2008, 2009.
The Key West Literary Seminar Audio Archives Project is sponsored in part by the
State of Florida, Department of State, Division of
Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National
Endowment for the Arts.
