Hernan Diaz joins Tom’s Book Club to talk about Ply, his new novel set centuries in the future. Diaz is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Trust, which won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

In Ply, an orphan grows up to become a “pincher”, someone who steals electricity from the grid to sell on the black market. When she finds herself being followed, she is drawn into a mystery involving a groundbreaking experiment that could change the fabric of reality.

In this conversation, Diaz discusses the origins of Ply, creating its distinctive future world and why he doesn't consider it simply a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel. He talks about technology, what it means to be human, as well as the research behind the novel, including his time at CERN and its influence on the book's physics.

Diaz also discusses the importance of music to his writing, his decision to write longhand with a fountain pen, and what winning the Pulitzer Prize for Trust changed about his life and work.

If you’re interested in Hernan Diaz, Ply, Trust, science fiction, literary fiction, technology, writing and the future, this episode offers an in-depth conversation with one of contemporary literature’s most acclaimed authors.

Want to read Ply? You can buy a copy through the Tom’s Book Club Bookshop.org page: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/TomsBookClub

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