Introducing Hernan Diaz, Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

What makes for a great book topic? Nested narratives. Financial facts worth reporting. An audio excerpt of "Trust."

Every book begins out of chaos and persistent thoughts, says author Hernan Diaz. Born in Argentina and raised in Sweden, he finds it extremely odd that money affects every aspect of our lives and all of our relationships, and yet we don't talk about it. For many, it’s easier to walk down the street naked than to disclose their finances. Why is money such a huge cultural taboo? Simultaneously, Diaz found himself drawn to events in history that are fetishized, but how accurate is our view of history? His book "Trust" set out to explore these two questions. 
 
Diaz also noticed that common financial terms, like "trust" and "bonds," have obvious social and emotional meanings we are accustomed to ignoring. 
 
Laid out like a puzzle, "Trust" has a creative structure. It is a memoir and a diary with shifting points of view and nesting narratives.  
 
In his extensive research for the book, he came face to face with the indisputable fact, for example, that women are absent from the history of finance. Money and finance are the tools by which men have taken over the world, making their wives and children dependent on them. Yet many of the most successful companies do "women's work" -- food products, clothing, etc. 
 
Set in the 1920s, his main characters are an extremely wealthy couple, but (as in "The Great Gatsby") precisely how they got their wealth is unclear.  

What makes for a great book topic?

1. Topics that are REAL, important information, or something close to people's hearts
2. A high profile subject 
3. An intriguing, hidden story  
4. A gap between perception and reality 
5. An influential moment or turning point 
6. A topic you're passionate about, love talking about, and in which you have (or are willing to gain) expertise in 
7. A topic that can help other people in their lives 
 
Hernan Diaz says literature is currently experiencing a renaissance, judging by his huge following of young readers on BookTok, part of TikTok.

https://bestofbooktok.com/

What is a nested narrative?

Nested narratives (or nested stories or or embedded stories) or It is a story within a story. Often a character in the story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). There can be multiple layers of stories within stories, and you can experiment with various structures.

1. Have a character tell or write a story or micro-story.

2. Tell micro-stories in dialogue or within first-person narration.

   

   ---

   Unrelated financial facts worth reporting 

   
   HOUSING is the most important issue going forward, according to RFK, Jr.

   Shockingly, the mega-corporations Black Rock, State Street & Vanguard have teamed up to buy each and every family home/residence in the United States, including your own! They will own 60% of all family homes by 2030 at their current rate of acquiring homes. 
    
   The average price of a home was $215,000 before COVID. 
   The average price of a home today is $400,000 at higher interest rates. 
   In some areas like Maui and Oregon, much housing has been destroyed in the extraordinarily vicious fires.

   Today 1 in 23 people (4.35%) worldwide are in need of humanitarian aid and that figure is expected to rise.