Junot Diaz - Learning to Inhabit Multiple Worlds in "Islandborn" | The Daily Show — Transcript

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1. 0:01My guest tonight is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author
2. 0:03who has written his first children's book
3. 0:05called Islandborn.
4. 0:07Please welcome Junot Díaz!
5. 0:08(cheers and applause)
6. 0:18Welcome to the show.
7. 0:20Thank you so much.
8. 0:21Uh, this is, uh, quite an adventure for you,
9. 0:24writing your first children's book.
10. 0:25A lot of people know your work,
11. 0:27the Pulitzer for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
12. 0:30And you are an author who is prolific.
13. 0:33You are known for writing amazing stories
14. 0:34that connect, not only to the immigrant experience,
15. 0:37but to the American experience,
16. 0:38because everyone comes here from somewhere.
17. 0:40What made you go with a children's book?
18. 0:42-I mean, that's-that quite a departure for you. -Yeah.
19. 0:45I have, uh, a lot of godchildren.
20. 0:47I've got two goddaughters who, about 20 years ago,
21. 0:50asked me to write them a book about them.
22. 0:53They're Dominican, live up in the Bronx.
23. 0:55And I said I would.
24. 0:57And it took me, uh, 20 years
25. 0:59-to-to actually write it. -Wow.
26. 1:01-Yeah. -(laughter)
27. 1:02So, they're like... they're like godparents themselves now.
28. 1:05Yeah, man. One of them's, like, a lawyer.
29. 1:07They're mad grown. They're...
30. 1:09I like the idea that she threatened to sue you.
31. 1:11She's like, "Yeah, I don't know if you noticed here,
32. 1:13you promised this, and now you've been served."
33. 1:15I think she's just embarrassed.
34. 1:17She's like, "Man, it took you forever.
35. 1:18-You're lame, yo." -Yeah, but I...
36. 1:20It has paid off, though.
37. 1:22You've written a story about a fascinating little girl,
38. 1:25and for those who've never read the book,
39. 1:27and for those who want to get into it,
40. 1:29what is Islandborn about, in your words?
41. 1:31It's about a little girl who, um, grows up
42. 1:34in an immigrant community.
43. 1:36She immigrated from the island
44. 1:38before, uh, she could remember anything.
45. 1:42And the book is about her teacher asking
46. 1:45all these students to draw a picture
47. 1:47of their first country.
48. 1:49-'Cause it's a school of immigrant kids. -Right.
49. 1:51And she can't remember, and she decides to figure out
50. 1:55what this place that she comes from
51. 1:57-but she can't remember was like. -Right.
52. 1:59And it's funny that she has to remember a place
53. 2:02that she never was, because in many ways,
54. 2:04although it's a children's book, I feel like it touches on themes
55. 2:06that we can all relate to, especially if you live
56. 2:09in a country that you're not originally from.
57. 2:11In the story, you've got Lola going around,
58. 2:13trying to figure out what pieces she has
59. 2:15of the island inside her.
60. 2:17Was there some of the experience...
61. 2:19was some of the experience inspired by...
62. 2:21by the life that you've lived
63. 2:23or the life of the people around you?
64. 2:24Yeah. I mean, part of this has everything to do
65. 2:26with how many people we know who carry other worlds with them.
66. 2:31They live one, two, three, four worlds,
67. 2:34and in the United States, it's sort of you're encouraged
68. 2:37to get rid of all those other worlds
69. 2:39and to imagine that you only exist in one,
70. 2:41but it's not true.
71. 2:42And so I kind of wanted to write about a little girl
72. 2:45who's surrounded by people who live in multiple worlds,
73. 2:48trying to discover what it means to be able to join that,
74. 2:51to have other worlds to draw upon.
75. 2:54It's interesting that you say people are, you know,
76. 2:57conditioned or encouraged to forget the other world.
77. 3:00You're American now, you know? This is America.
78. 3:02This is your-- don't talk about the Dominican Republic, be in...
79. 3:04this is... this is the only country that matters to you.
80. 3:08Recently, we saw, uh...
81. 3:10the phrase, um, "a nation of immigrants"
82. 3:13-(laughs): Right. -being taken out of, you know,
83. 3:16America's immigration... the department.
84. 3:19When you see "a nation of immigrants" being removed.
85. 3:22when you are an immigrant, when you grew up in a community
86. 3:25that calls America home and appreciates that journey,
87. 3:28how does that make you feel?
88. 3:30Is that something that worries you?
89. 3:32Is that something that scares you?
90. 3:34Yeah. I mean, first thing, if they had removed that
91. 3:37to just kind of give a more accurate description--
92. 3:39"America is a white settler colony nation"--
93. 3:43that would have been nice.
94. 3:44-But really they did it to kind of... -(laughter)
95. 3:47no, really they did it to sort of pursue
96. 3:50this anti-immigrant, kind of racist line.
97. 3:53And look, man, uh, white people didn't just materialize
98. 3:57-in this hemisphere. -Right.
99. 3:59You know? All these folks, if you're not indigenous,
100. 4:02you're part of this thing that we call "immigration,"
101. 4:05and not wanting to recognize it not only erases
102. 4:08the bloody history of why we're here,
103. 4:10but also is such a rank attack on the communities
104. 4:14that have really powered this nation.
105. 4:17When we go back to the story of Lola, you...
106. 4:21you realize that there is this weird melding of two ideas
107. 4:25in Islandborn, and that is:
108. 4:27bringing a piece of your world into America,
109. 4:30and then having America influence
110. 4:32what your world means and is.
111. 4:35Did you find that happening in your life?
112. 4:37Because you came over at a young age,
113. 4:39and then you became a U.S. citizen,
114. 4:41I believe, at the age of 20.
115. 4:42Like, how did you find that balance between going,
116. 4:45"I'm from the Dominican Republic,
117. 4:47but I'm also American"?
118. 4:48You know, what helps is that so many people
119. 4:50-have gone through it, you know? -Right.
120. 4:52Usually when you're experiencing,
121. 4:54you think you're the only one,
122. 4:55you're wrestling with the formula,
123. 4:57you're like, how much can I be Dominican,
124. 4:58how much can I be from New Jersey?
125. 5:00But if you look around, you realize lots of people
126. 5:02are wrestling with this, there's a lot of precedence.
127. 5:05And what really helps is to think of it
128. 5:08not as some weird, bizarre buffet
129. 5:10where you only get one damn choice.
130. 5:13That's, like, a sinister, sadistic buffet.
131. 5:15How about you get to choose more than one thing?
132. 5:17-Right. -That you could literally be Dominican
133. 5:19and from New Jersey and there's no conflict.
134. 5:22Fill the damn plate, yo, fill the plate.
135. 5:24-You know? -(laughter, applause)
136. 5:25"Fill the damn plate, yo, fill the damn plate."
137. 5:28-Thank you so much for being on the show. -Thank you, Trevor.
138. 5:31Thank you for writing an amazing book.
139. 5:32Islandborn comes out March 13.
140. 5:34Junot Díaz, everybody.