He was selected as one of the 39 most important Latin American writers under the age of 39 by the Bogotá World Book Capital and the Hay Festival.
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Díaz emigrated to Parlin, New Jersey, in December 1974, where he was re-united with his father.
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At this time Díaz became fascinated with apocalyptic films and books, especially the work of John Christopher, the original Planet of the Apes films, and the BBC mini-series Edge of Darkness.
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Díaz has received a Eugene McDermott Award, a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, a Lila Acheson Wallace Readers Digest Award, the 2002 PEN/Malamud Award, the 2003 US-Japan Creative Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Cameron Diaz | Porfirio Díaz | Junot Diaz | Gloria Diaz | Justino Díaz | Chalco de Díaz Covarrubias | Roberto Díaz Herrera | Marilou Diaz-Abaya | Laura Diaz | Bernal Díaz del Castillo | Lav Diaz | Carlos Díaz Olivo | Aarón Díaz | Sully Diaz | Roxana Díaz Burgos | Roxana Díaz | Ron Diaz | Raphael Diaz | Porfirio Diaz | María II Díaz de Haro | Lincoln Diaz-Balart | Kicho Díaz | Gustavo Díaz Ordaz | Fruela Díaz | Francisco Gil Díaz | Esperanza Diaz | Diaz | David Díaz (boxer) | David Diaz | Armando Diaz |
Among the writers Bilton teaches in his Contemporary American Fiction class are Cormac McCarthy, Douglas Coupland, Paul Auster, Junot Diaz, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Jennifer Egan.
All Summer in a Day is mentioned in a description of main character Oscar Wao, from Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
In October 2009, Friedman was asked to perform at the 35th Anniversary Celebration of the National Coalition Against Censorship, a charity benefit gala hosted by Judy Blume that also featured appearances by Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, Joan Rivers, Rachel Dratch, Michelle Branch, and Junot Diaz.
Teaching for Change has helped bring noted authors to host readings, discussions and book signings, including Alice Walker, Howard Zinn, Cornel West, Ronald Takaki, Michelle Alexander, Melissa Harris-Perry, John Sayles, Nikki Giovanni, Robert Parris Moses, Juan Gonzalez, Ralph Nader, Taylor Branch, Dave Zirin, Naomi Klein, Tariq Ali, Clarence Lusane, Marita Golden and Junot Diaz.
In a starred review, the industry publication Booklist called the book, "lively, funny, gritty, and achingly real," comparing Ginder to novelists Junot Diaz and Michael Chabon.