Junot Diaz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, poet, and professor. Born in the Dominican Republic, he immigrated to the United States at the age of six and grew up in New Jersey. His writing often focuses on the immigrant experience, exploring themes of identity, family, and masculinity. His debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was a New York Times bestseller. His other works include the short story collection Drown, the novel This Is How You Lose Her, and the nonfiction book The Cheating Culture. He has also written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Boston Review. Diaz is currently a professor of writing at MIT and a member of the board of advisors of Freedom University, a volunteer organization that provides post-secondary instruction to undocumented immigrants in Georgia.