Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Junot Diaz visited campus on Nov. 4 for a reading and Q&A session that over 400 students, faculty and members of the Oakland University community attended.

“You can never show enough gratitude as an artist when anyone invites you anywhere,” Diaz said as he stepped up to the podium, thanking the university.

Diaz read two short pieces, one from his novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2008, and a short story called “Alma,” which was published in “The New Yorker” in 2007.

“Alma is a Mason Gross student, one of those comic-book-reading alternatinas without whom you might never have lost your virginity,” Diaz read.

He made it clear from the beginning that his writing does not shy away from topics that some may consider risque like sex, infidelity and domestic violence.

“I think it shows you the limit of public discourse in this country,” Diaz said in response to a question about his use of strong language in both his writing and his speech. “Most of the planet curses most of the time, but because they curse they are locked out of legitimate discourse.”

Diaz described what he calls the “culture of respectability,” that allows us to avoid things that make us feel uncomfortable, like cursing, accents or people who don’t share similar political views.

“It’s a really great tool. It’s kind of a repressive tool, but it’s one that in our society, we hew to,” Diaz said. “I can convince you to bomb your neighbor as long as I wear a suit and couch it in official discourse. If I wanted to sell you, I wouldn’t curse, but I want to talk about art. And art, being so difficult, you’ve got to use the language that for you is most comfortable.'”

Bringing Diaz to OU began over a year ago when professor Robert Anderson, chair of the cultural affairs committee in the English department, was asked to bring a fiction writer to the university.

“Junot Diaz was the first I thought of, in part because I read the novel, and it’s so exciting…it appeals to students that might not be touched by another novel,” Anderson said, referring to what he calls Oscar Wao’s nerdy personality.

Anderson was pleased with the results of the event, where so many people showed up that additional chairs had to be added to the banquet room, and described Diaz as “electrifying.”

“I really liked everything that he was saying about writing, but also about life in general, that you don’t always have to get approval people. It’s not all about just making money,” Caitlin Callaghan, senior English major, said.

Diaz’s novel is now available at the Barnes and Nobel bookstore.  For more information about Diaz and his work, visit  his website at www.junotdiaz.com