hinojosa: his first book of short stories took us by storm, and with his debut novel the brief wonderous life of oscar wao, he won a pulitzer prize. today he's considered one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary fiction-- novelist junot diaz. i'm maria hinojosa. this is one on one. junot, welcome to the show. >> thank you for having me, maria. >> hinojosa: so, a pulitzer for the brief wonderous life of oscar wao. are you still on the pulitzer high? >> no. i don't know if i ever got the pulitzer high. >> hinojosa: no. >> yeah. well, i mean, it's just more about my personality. again, my friends pointed out that i never had a party or even a celebration for it. i just kept working. so that's usually the way i am. but you know, it's been a great ride. i've had a lot of fun. >> hinojosa: okay, so when you called your mom, what did you say? i mean, i want you to say, like, the exact words-- (speaking spanish) >> i didn't call my mom. i was at her house. >> hinojosa: oh! so what did you say to your mom? >> nothing. i just said... i mean, not nothing. i said, "mother... (speaking spanish)" and she's...

life of oscar wao, which... >> hinojosa: which is another.... just because you said it kind of quickly and people are like... the brief, wonderful oscar wao from the pulitzer prize-winning author junot díaz... >> right. >> hinojosa: ...about the dominican reality-- dominican republic, immigrants... >> right. >> hinojosa: hugely popular book. people love that book. i don't know, but when somebody gives you a book like that and says, "make this into a movie," i mean, i would be like... >> yeah. it's... you know, it's become my craft. you know, it's the thing that i've learned to do. i try to do it as well as i can, and it's fun. it's like a big puzzle, you know? it's trying to decide what is cinematic in a novel, and enhancing that and bringing that out is the big trick. >> hinojosa: do you find yourself... i mean, how do you get to that place where you learn to trust, "okay, this is the voice, this is the centerpiece, this is the through-line"? >> yeah, it takes doing, you know? i mean, you ask yourself basic questions: who is this about, what do they want, and what's standing in their way? and when you answer those three questio