Sopan Deb: Missed Translations

CIIS Public Programs

As he approached his 30th birthday, Sopan Deb found comfort in his day job as a writer for the New York Times and as a practicing comedian. But his stage material highlighting his South Asian culture only served to mask the insecurities borne from his family history. Theirs was an ostensibly nuclear family without any of the familial bonds. In Sopan’s latest book, Missed Translations, he raises the essential questions: Is it ever too late to pick up the pieces and offer forgiveness? How do we build bridges where there was nothing before—and what happens to us, to our past and our future, if we don’t? In this episode, Alka Arora, Associate Professor of Women’s Spirituality at CIIS, talks with Sopan about the silence and ignorance that separate us, and the blood and stories that connect us. This episode was recorded during a live online conversation on June 3, 2020.