Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz has withdrawn from a writers’ festival amid allegations that he had forcefully kissed a woman and showed aggressive behavior toward others.
Writer Zinzi Clemmons said the incident happened when she was a 26-year-old graduate student. She had invited Diaz to speak at a workshop, but Diaz “used it as an opportunity to corner and forcibly kiss me,” Clemmons wrote on Twitter. Other female writers have since come forward, accusing Diaz of mistreatment and misogynistic verbal abuse.
As a grad student, I invited Junot Diaz to speak to a workshop on issues of representation in literature.