Diane and I went to the BABEL event and listened to Hernan Diaz speak about his writing process and how he came to write Trust, a novel that won the Pulitzer Prize.
I was struck by Hernan Diaz’s range. His first novel, In the Distance, is a Western that surprisingly was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2017. Trust is an historical novel about capitalism. In the Q&A session, Diaz told the audience of about 500 people that his next novel will be set 400 years from now and centers around Artificial Intelligence. Talk about three very different novels by the same writer!
Diaz earned a PhD from NYU and wrote Borges: Between History and Eternity. Diane and I came away impressed by this writer. Are you familiar with Hernan Diaz?
Nope.
Jeff, Hernan Diaz is a pretty sharp guy with plenty of stories about his writing process. He held the hundreds in the audience in the palm of his hand!
This is the first I’ve heard of him. It’s a chastening experience to think of oneself as fairly well-read only to keep running into the buzzsaw of reality (aka, every time I read the “By the Book” feature in the NYT).
Deb, I get the same feeling that I’m falling behind on my reading. So many new writers to keep track of!
I hope Diane and Patrick enjoy the cruise.
Jeff, I’ll be dropping Patrick and Diane off at the Buffalo Airport in a couple of hours. The Dancing Girls arrive tonight!
I have started TRUST more than once but not got into it. Maybe next time.
Patti, TRUST has four parts with four different characters. Skip ahead to part two if you’re bogged down in part one.
The crossover from historical fiction to sf is pretty common, when you think about it. Theodore Sturgeon, Ms. Lee Hoffman, Gary Jennings, Margaret Atwood, Jack London, John Jakes…one can go on.
Todd, I’m a fan of historical fiction. TRUST is a timely book.