Anyone wondering when a writer of real literary talent would get around to tackling the expat-in-China experience, may just have had their prayers answered. (No, Tony Parsons, we don't mean you.)

The New Yorker just put up a short Q&A with Junot Diaz, conducted by email while he was attending the various Literary Festivals currently taking place around the country. (His appearance in Shanghai was a highlight of this year's event. Gotta love anyone who thanks the kids sitting on the front row for being there, then immediately drops the f-bomb. City Weekend covered the talk in more detail.) Don't hold your breath, but there may be a book in there somewhere.

Here's his take on his time in China:

"First time in China and, my god, does it shatter all attempts to describe. Like trying to put a goat halter on a colossus. As for my beloved two homes—New Jersey and Santo Domingo—it's only lately that I've been leaving them in my work. I lived in Mexico City for a year back in 1999, and these past few months I've been trying to write something about that stupendous city. So it looks like I've got a ten-year lag between living in a place and writing about it. In ten years, I might try to write something about China. Really in all my life I've never seen anything like it. I could imagine myself writing about some New Jersey Dominican guy, doing the English-teaching expat thing in Shanghai. Maybe. I'm sure it would be really, really bad, too."

For more of Chinatravel.net's coverage of this year's Literary Festivals in China, click the links below:

Writing a guidebook to China: An interview with Rough Guide author David Leffman
Queer Culture in China: An interview with Professor John Erni
Foreign memoirs of China: An interview with Amy Sommers
The History of Photography in China: An interview with Terry Bennett
Shanghai International Literary Festival Preview: Andrew Field