Writing Gone Wao

In this essay, “Writing Gone Wao,” I begin by reiterating my own sense of the book’s ( Junot Díaz: On the Half-Life of Love , Duke UP, 2022) priorities. I then turn to the probing and generous responses by Glenda Carpio, Mónica González García, Gerald Torres, Marina De Chiara, and Ato Quayson to my work. I conclude by examining Díaz’s recent writings published after my book appeared, including his complex, erudite Substack series “StoryWorlds with Junot Díaz,” and his short story, “The Ghosts of Gloria Lara” ( The New Yorker , 2023), where he explores dramatic issues of decolonial love and the political unconscious.