The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

How Award-Winning Novelist & Pulitzer Finalist Hernan Diaz Writes


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Award-winning author and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Hernan Diaz, spoke to me about rejection, his unusual path to literary stardom, subverting reader expectations, and his latest novel "Trust."

Hernan was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award. His first novel, "In the Distance," won the Saroyan International Prize, the Cabell Award, the Prix Page America, and the New American Voices Award, among other distinctions.

His latest novel, Trust, has been named one of 2022’s Most Anticipated Books by The New York Times, OprahDaily, The Today Show, Vogue, Vulture, AV Club, and more.

Described as "...an immersive story and a brilliant literary puzzle .... about money, power, intimacy, and perception," The NY Times called Trust, “Intricate, cunning and consistently surprising ..."

Hernan holds a Ph.D. from NYU, edits an academic journal at Columbia University, and is also the author of Borges, Between History and Eternity. His stories and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, Playboy, The Yale Review, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere.

In this file Hernan Diaz and I discussed:

  • Why the path to publication is a Catch-22 for authors
  • The lonely road to Pulitzer nominee and disorientation of fame
  • What he learned from Jorge Luis Borges
  • Re-mapping the isthmus of referential reality
  • How he unlearned academic writing 
  • And a lot more!
  • Stay calm and write on ...

    hernandiaz.net

    Trust by Hernan Diaz (Amazon Affiliate)

    Hernan Diaz Amazon Author Page (Amazon Affiliate)

    A Debut Novel. A Tiny Press. A Pulitzer Finalist.NY Times

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    The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and NeuroscienceBy Kelton Reid

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