Jaquira Diaz
The Extraordinary: Jaquira Diaz on Identity, Forgiveness & Mining Gold from Troubled Stories
Season 1
Episode 9
Jaquira Díaz was born in Puerto Rico. Her work has been published in Rolling Stone, the Guardian, Longreads, The Fader, and T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and included in The Best American Essays 2016. She is the recipient of the 2019 Whiting Award in Nonfiction for “Ordinary Girls,” two Pushcart Prizes, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Kenyon Review, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. She lives in Miami Beach with her partner, the writer Lars Horn.
Things Discussed:
Growing up in Puerto Rico
Coming out to a Catholic family
The tensions between the white and black sides of her family during childhood
The silence around sexual violence
Ethnic and racial identity - What am I?
Practicing Catholicism and being gay
Even the hardest family stories can give us strength
The publishing industry
Racism and learning to understand one another
Resources:
Jaquira’s new memoir, “Ordinary Girls”
Jaquira on Instagram
Dolores on Instagram
