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5 books that left a mark on Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Díaz

The author of the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and the picture book Islandborn discusses 5 books that impacted him.
Yasmine Mathurin · CBC ·
Junot Díaz is the author of Islandborn, which was illustrated by Leo Espinosa and published in 2018. (Nina Subin)

Award-winning author Junot Díaz has turned his attention to children's literature. Diaz, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, has a new picture book called Islandborn. The story, illustrated by Leo Espinosa, is about the power of imagination on a first-generation immigrant child in her quest to find home.

Diaz spoke to CBC Books about the five books that left a mark on him when he was growing up.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X & Alex Haley

Writer Alex Haley is the co-author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. (Grove Press, Fred Mott/Getty Images)

"This was the first book, for me, that laid clear some of the important history of struggles and resistance in the African-American community. It also charted the dangers and what is problematic about white supremacy. It was just a fantastic read for a young person when I was in high school."

Sula by Toni Morrison

Pulitzer-winning author Toni Morrison wrote Sula in 1973. She became the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993. (Michael Lionstar/Knopf/Associated Press)

"I was deeply moved and changed by Toni Morrison's Sula — one of her impossibly beautiful early novels about Black female friendship and the survival of African-American communities."

Family Installments by Edward Rivera

Edward Rivera autobiographical novel Family Installments: Memories of Growing Up Hispanic was written in 1983 and published by Penguin Books.

"Edward Rivera's Family Installments is a brilliant and completely fearless memoir about a Puerto Rican family leaving Puerto Rico and coming to New York City, and follows all of their travails and triumphs. It was very soulful and very honest."

Dawn by Octavia Butler

Award-winning author Octavia E. Butler wrote Dawn in 1987. In 1995 Butler became the first science-fiction writer to win a MacArthur Genius Fellowship. (Cheung Ching Ming/ Grand Central Publishing)

"It was one of the most important science fiction novels from one of the most important African-American writers. It was a monument in American Letters."

Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau

Patrick Chamoiseau wrote Texaco in 1992. It was awarded the Prix Concourt the year it was published. (Sylvain Bourmeau/ Vintage Books)

"I consider him one of our greatest living writers.Texaco is a novel that embraces the entire history of Martinique and Guadeloupe, the history of the new world and people of African descent in this hemisphere. It was absolutely shattering. I found it to be an act of genius."