In this episode, meet actress Sheetal Sheth, author of Always Anjali, award-winning writer Ava Chin, author of Mott Street, and book critic, essayist, and reporter Claire Dederer, author of Monsters. Tune in to hear the very personal reasons these authors wrote their audiobooks, and the ways they are working towards more well-rounded representation through their work.
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Listen to clips from the audiobooks mentioned in this episode:
Anjali is often teased about her “different” name, and not being able to find a personalized license plate for her bike is the last straw. In Always Anjali, Anjali is so upset that she demands her parents let her pick a new name! When they refuse, Anjali decides to take a closer look at who she is and learns being different means being marvelous.
As the only child of a single mother in Queens, Ava Chin found her family’s origins to be shrouded in mystery. Mott Street traces Chin’s quest to understand her Chinese American family’s story. Over decades of painstaking research, she finds not only her father but also the building that provided a refuge for them all.
In Monsters, the unflinching, deeply personal book that expands on her instantly viral Paris Review essay, Claire Dederer explores the audience’s relationship with artists from Woody Allen to Michael Jackson, asking: How do we balance our undeniable sense of moral outrage with our equally undeniable love of the work?
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