Hernan Diaz at a Glance

Full Name: Hernan Diaz

Pronunciation: air-NAHN DEE-az

Born: 1973

Nationality: Argentina, United States

Education:

• University of Buenos Aires (undergraduate degree)
• King’s College (MA)
• New York University (PhD)

Genres:

• Contemporary literature

Biography & Background

Hernan Diaz Biography

Hernan Diaz is an Argentine American writer and scholar best known for his two novels In the Distance (2017) and Trust (2022). Born in Buenos Aires in 1973, he and his family moved two years later to Sweden after a military coup in Argentina. Diaz returned to Argentina at age 10, then moved to the US in 1999 to pursue a PhD at New York University.

Diaz’s two novels take place in very different geographical and historical settings, with In the Distance set in 19th-century California and Trust in the world of New York finance at the time of the Great Depression, but both novels explore temptations and dangers of the American dream. In the Distance, Diaz’s debut, was published by the small but highly respected independent publisher Coffee House Press. The novel was a breakout success both critically and commercially, and Diaz won a prestigious Whiting Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His second novel, Trust, was published by Riverhead in 2022. Rated one of the best books of the year by numerous media outlets, Trust won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2023 alongside Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, the first time the fiction Pulitzer Prize was awarded to two books in the same year.

In addition to his novels, Diaz has published a critical work on Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges: Borges, Between History and Eternity (2012). He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and daughter, and he serves as associate director of the Institute for Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University.

Fun Facts About Hernan Diaz

• Diaz drafts his novels on paper, with a fountain pen, then later transcribes them into his computer. He considers this transcription process a first chance at revision.
• Having grown up in Sweden, Diaz is fluent in Swedish and has published translations of short stories by the Swedish writer Tove Jansson in The Paris Review.

Hernan Diaz’s Awards & Honors

• 2018 — First Novelist Award (In the Distance)
• 2018 — Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist (In the Distance)
• 2018 — William Saroyan International Prize (In the Distance)
• 2019 — Whiting Award
• 2022 — Guggenheim Fellowship
• 2022 — Kirkus Prize for Fiction winner (Trust)
• 2023 — Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (Trust)

Interviews & Podcasts

Hear from Hernan Diaz in his own words.

Interviews with Hernan Diaz

_{LITERARY HUB}

Hernan Diaz: “I Wouldn’t Be the Person I am Without Borges” (May 3, 2022)

In this in-depth interview, Diaz explores his literary influences—particularly Jorge Luis Borges—and discusses how metafiction, authorship, and the structure of Trust evolved during his writing process. A must-read for anyone curious about the novel’s layered design and philosophical underpinnings.

_{THE PARIS REVIEW}

Writing Is a Monstrous Act: A Conversation with Hernan Diaz (June 2, 2022)

Diaz unpacks his fascination with language, loneliness, and transformation. He shares why he writes by hand, how writing alters the self, and the “monstrous” act of literary creation. This interview offers rich insight into his views on authorship and identity.

Podcasts with Hernan Diaz

_{NYT BOOK REVIEW PODCAST}

Hernan Diaz on Trust and Money in Fiction (July 5, 2022)

In this podcast, Diaz discusses Trust as a literary experiment that investigates wealth, narrative authority, and economic myth-making. He examines why books in the literary canon have addressed class yet avoided centering wealth and money in their narratives—and why that omission matters.

Hernan Diaz Quotes

[Trust] is, to an enormous extent, about the implications of having a voice or being denied one. One of the main questions in the novel is who gets a megaphone and who is gagged.

— from an interview with Literary Hub (Hernan Diaz: “I Wouldn’t Be the Person I am Without Borges,” 2022)

God is the most uninteresting answer to the most interesting questions.

— Trust (2022)

At the end of the day, [In the Distance] is a book about radical loneliness. It’s not a book about communion, reunion, or reconciliation. It’s a novel about a very final form of loneliness.

— from an interview with Believer magazine (An Interview with Hernan Diaz, 2024)

There was a sky. There was a body. And a planet underneath it. And it was all lovely. And it did not matter. He had never been happy before. And it did not matter.

— In the Distance (2017)

Writing is a monstrous act because it implies a metamorphosis. Writing, to me, is an attempt at becoming someone else.

— from an interview with the Paris Review (Writing Is a Monstrous Act: A Conversation with Hernan Diaz, 2022)

Notable Books by Hernan Diaz

In the Distance (2017)

Diaz’s debut novel follows a Swedish immigrant named Håkan as he traverses the American West in the 19th century. Subverting classic Western tropes, the book centers on loneliness, dislocation, and the failure of myth to capture lived experience. With its lyrical prose and philosophical scope, In the Distance announced Diaz as a major literary talent.

Learn more with SuperSummary’s study guide.

Authors Like Hernan Diaz

Jennifer Egan

Recommended Read: A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010)

Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel-in-stories plays with narrative form, time, and perspective as it explores the lives of characters in the music industry. Like Diaz’s Trust, the book experiments with structure to examine memory, authorship, and cultural legacy.

Uncover more about this book with SuperSummary’s study guide.

Don DeLillo

Recommended Read: White Noise (1985)

DeLillo’s darkly comic novel explores technology, fear, and the seductions of modern media. DeLillo, like Diaz, interrogates the constructs that shape identity and truth, and both authors experiment with narrative voice to challenge cultural mythologies.

Ready to dig in? Check out SuperSummary’s study guide.

Colson Whitehead

Recommended Read: The Nickel Boys (2019)

Inspired by real events at Florida’s highly abusive Dozier School for Boys, this novel examines injustice, institutional violence, and the erasure of truth through the story of two boys in a brutal reform school. Like Diaz, Whitehead interrogates American ideals and reimagines history through a moral and narrative lens. The Nickel Boys was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2020.

Explore the full breakdown with SuperSummary’s study guide.

Follow Hernan Diaz

Connect with Jonathan Haidt on the following platforms:

• Website: www.hernandiaz.net