Ep. 71 - “We Were Outsiders. Now We're Not. What Do We Do With That?” with Sanjena Sathian

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 does it mean to be part of groups that are both privileged and treated as outsiders? 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. Find us on Twitter (@bookdreamspod) and Instagram (@bookdreamspodcast), or email us at [email protected]. We encourage you to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter for information about our episodes, guests, and more. Book Dreams is a part of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you’re listening to Book Dreams, we’d like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows about literature, writing, and storytelling like Storybound and The History of Literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices