Junot DΓazΒ was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey. He is the author of the critically acclaimedΒ Drown;Β The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award;Β Β This Is How You Lose Her, aΒ New York TimesΒ bestseller and National Book Award finalist; and a debut picture book,Β Islandborn.Β He is the recipient of a MacArthur βGeniusβ Fellowship, PEN/Malamud Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, and PEN/O. Henry Award.Β A graduate of Rutgers College, DΓaz is currently the fiction editor atΒ Boston ReviewΒ and the Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.