Junot Diaz steps down from Pulitzer Prize chairman amid sexual harrassment allegations
The Pulitzer Prize Board said on Thursday that it will launch an independent review of the misconduct allegations against Junot Diaz, and that the author will relinquish the role of chairman of the board.
In a statement, the board said that Diaz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and creative writing professor, had asked to relinquish the chairman role, to which he was elected in April on the basis of seniority. Diaz remains on the board, the statement said, adding that he welcomes the review and will cooperate fully with it.
Author Zinzi Clemmons said on Twitter last week that Diaz forcibly kissed her several years ago. Other female writers also shared their encounters with Diaz on social media.
As a grad student, I invited Junot Diaz to speak to a workshop on issues of representation in literature. I was an unknown wide-eyed 26 yo, and he used it as an opportunity to corner and forcibly kiss me. I'm far from the only one he's done this 2, I refuse to be silent anymore.
— zinziclemmons (@zinziclemmons) May 4, 2018
MIT is also looking into the allegations. A spokeswoman for the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Diaz is a professor, didn't immediately comment on the status of the inquiry on Wednesday. The Cambridge Public Library also announced on Wednesday that it has cancelled its annual Summer Reading Kick-Off featuring Diaz. It had been slated for May 16.
The Pulitzer board said that Eugene Robinson, the board's immediate past chairman, has resumed the role on an interim basis.
Diaz, one of his generation's most acclaimed Latino voices, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for in the fiction category for The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao.
He did not immediately return an email message seeking comment.
