What does it say about the American Dream if immigrants achieve financial success but their children, and their children’s children, still experience a lack of belonging? What are the flaws in the stories we tell ourselves about our parents’ generation, and what are their consequences? What are the forces, internal and external, that shape our ambition? And when might ambition become our downfall? This week on Book Dreams, Sanjena Sathian--using the particular stories of two Indian American families in her debut novel Gold Diggers to access a universal story--shares thoughts on these questions and more.
Sanjena Sathian is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, an alumna of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, and a former Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow. She's worked as a journalist in San Francisco and in Mumbai, and she has written nonfiction for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vox, Time, Food & Wine, and more. Her award-winning short fiction appears in Conjunctions, Boulevard, Joyland, Salt Hill, and The Masters Review. Booksellers named Gold Diggers an “Indie Next” pick, and Mindy Kaling's production company is adapting it for a TV series, with Sanjena co-writing the adaptation and Mindy Kaling herself set to executive produce.
Gold Diggers
*A Good Morning America Buzz Pick * Soon to be a series produced by Mindy Kaling * New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * A Vox Bookclub Pick * Longlisted for the 2021 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize*
