Junot Diaz in Minneapolis

I just returned from a reading at Barnes and Noble near the Southdale mall. I think the place is called the Galleria. Junot Diaz read from his first novel, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao and answered questions from the audience. My interest in his stories began a couple years ago when a short story bearing the same title of his novel appeared in The New Yorker. The piece dealt fairly intimately with geekdom -- mostly comics in this case. In a more recent story, "Wildwood," one that treads more in the realm of punk music as an escape, the protagonist's little brother dabbles in pencil and paper role playing games. The themes of sci-fi flavored genre material and alternative music operate against the backdrop of Dominican/American culture. Diaz' characters are frequently youths chafing against their parents, their situations.

Here's a sample of Diaz's writing from The New Yorker, a travel piece from 2004 called "Homecoming, With Turtle." Sadly, "Wildwood" which he read a portion of tonight, is only available as an abstract. I've got the June 11 & 18 2007 issue of the New Yorker that it is in if anybody wants to borrow it and read the story.

Here's a link to the Amazon page for his novel.