NPR Silicon Valley correspondent Aarti Shahani has written a memoir about her family’s journey from pre-partition India to Casablanca to New York. It’s called “Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares.”
Shahani said that her father lived the nightmare, but that she lived the dream.
“Not that it was easy,” she added. “I detail in this book how the justice system derailed my life. I grew up in the shadow of a legal case that was supposed to go away, but never did, and that’s a very common experience in America.
“But I also got to leap in ways that never would have happened back home,” Shahani said.
St. Louis on the Air host Sarah Fenske talked with Shahani last Friday evening before a live audience at St. Louis Public Radio. The conversation aired Tuesday on the talk show, touching on the way the American dream can become complicated by reality as well as the path she took to become an NPR journalist.
This broadcast was made possible with help from the Novel Neighbor, St. Louis Public Radio’s co-host for Friday night’s event. Signed copies of “Here We Are” are still available at the bookstore, located at 7905 Big Bend Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63119.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill, Lara Hamdan and Tonina Saputo. The engineer is Aaron Doerr, and production assistance is provided by Charlie McDonald.
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