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Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Junot Diaz Endorses Julissa Gomez in Inwood, WaHi Assembly Race

By Carla Zanoni | August 27, 2010 6:53pm

By Carla Zanoni

DNAInfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER MANHATTAN — Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Diaz, who is revered in Upper Manhattan for his writings about Dominican culture, threw his support behind Julissa Gomez Thursday in the race to represent Washington Heights and Inwood in the State Assembly.

“Julissa is fierce, knowledgeable, far-sighted — no one will fight harder for the district and no one is more ethical,” Diaz said in a public statement sent out Friday by the campaign.

The author of “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” is celebrated for his writings about Dominican culture and the lives of immigrants living in the tri-state area, including Washington Heights.

Gomez said she and the author met through an acquaintance more than ten years ago, and said she was excited to receive his endorsement.

“He is someone who is very progressive, pro-developing new Dominican leaders and educating people,” she said.

Although Diaz wrote in an email that he does not see himself as a “prominent figure in Upper Manhattan,” Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat recently heralded him during a breakfast before the Dominican Day Parade as a symbol of Dominican success in the United States.

“As we have a our stars in literature, like Junot Diaz,” Espaillat said in Spanish, “we must strive to have strong representation in the public sector.”

Diaz wrote that he was driven to endorse Gomez by a desire to see new faces in elected office, something he said the area has sorely lacked for some time.

Gomez is currently running in the 72nd district against Miguel Estrella, Gabriela Rosa, Nelson Denis and Guillermo Linares. Denis is a former Assemblyman from East Harlem and Linares previously represented the area in the City Council and up until last year worked for the Bloomberg Administration, before leaving his post in a failed run to replace ousted Councilman Miguel Martinez.

“Ultimately we need some new energy, new ideas in this position,” Diaz wrote, listing the issues that plague that community that he believes Gomez will be best able to address.

“The schools,” he wrote. “The cronyism between landlords and our so-called politicians that have led to rent-hikes and working families been kicked out of their homes. The lack of services and support for children. The student Metrocard being 'saved' at the cost of other services. The gentrification going on in Upper Manhattan. For starters.”