PD Soros Fellowships for New Americans

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2020: A Preview Of Books By Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows

12.19.19

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2020 will be a big year for books by Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows. Last year, books were published by Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows Sangu Delle (2013 Fellow), Sunita Puri (2004 Fellow), Aarti Shahani (2010 Fellow), Dov Fox (2007 Fellow), Kao Kalia Yang (2003 Fellow), and Meera Deo (2005 Fellow). Here is a summary of books you can ex)pect from past recipients of the Fellowship in 2020.

In 2021, we're looking forward to books by Sanjena Sathian (2017 Fellow) and Dena Simmons (2010 Fellow).

Ming Hsu Chen: Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement Era Stanford Press (forthcoming 2020)

A 2001 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow, Ming Hsu Chen is now an associate professor at the University of Colorado Law School. The child of parents of Chinese heritage who immigrated to Taiwan and then the United States, Ming is the faculty-director of the Immigration and Citizenship Law Program and holds faculty affiliations in Political Science and Ethnic Studies as well. For her new book, Ming interviewed more than 100 immigrants about their experiences coming to the United States so that readers could see the immigration system from a noncitizen's point of view. Ming "builds a case that formal citizenship status matters more than ever during times of enforcement. She refocuses the immigration debate around constructing pathways to citizenship."

Abdul El-Sayed: Healing Politics: A Doctor's Journey Into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic Abrams Press (May 5, 2020)

The podcast host of America Dissected (Crooked Media) and the former head of public health in Detroit, 2012 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Abdul El-Sayed earned national attention in 2018 when he ran for governor of Michigan. In his new book, Abdul will tell his story of growing up in Michigan as the child of Egyptian immigrants, attending the University of Michigan and Columbia University's medical school; most importantly, he will present his perspective as an epidemiologist and doctor on American politics. Bernie Sanders writes, "Abdul El-Sayed understands something very profound. That at the end of the day, no matter how much wealth and power the big moneyed interests have... that at the end of the day, what is more important than their money is ordinary people coming together in the struggle for economic, social, racial, and environmental justice."

Vivek Murthy: Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World Harper Wave (April 21, 2020)

As the 19th Surgeon General of the United States, 1998 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Vivek Murthy crossed the country speaking to Americans about their lives and health. Over and over again, Vivek saw how health issues big and small were often connected to something our culture doesn't talk much about: loneliness. In 2017, Vivek told the Washington Post, "When I began my tenure as surgeon general I did not think that I would be talking about loneliness and emotional well-being. But when I was traveling to communities across the country I found that loneliness was a profound issue that was affecting people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. This is true in urban areas, in rural areas, in the heartland of the country and on the coast." In his new book, Vivek explores the loneliness epidemic and its remedies: social connection and community.

Julie Suk: We the Women: The Forgotten Mothers of the Equal Rights Amendment Skyhorse (April 21, 2020)

2020 marks the 100-year anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the constitutional right to vote. To mark the occasion, 2002 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Julie Suk's new book explores the history of the amendment and looks at how far we've come since its passage. Julie, who was born in Korea, is an expert on women's rights and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), as well as the dean for master’s programs and a professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is a scholar of comparative law and society, with a focus on women in comparative constitutional law. She has published over 30 articles and book chapters on law’s ability to reduce and perpetuate inequality, including, “Are Gender Stereotypes Bad for Women? Rethinking Antidiscrimination Law and Work-Family Conflict” in Columbia Law Review and “An Equal Rights Amendment for the Twenty-First Century: Bringing Global Constitutionalism Home” in Yale Journal of Law and Feminism.

Kao Kalia Yang: Somewhere in the Unknown World: A Collective Refugee Memoir Metropolitan Books (August 11, 2020)

2003 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Kao Kalia Yang is one of the Fellowship's most prolific and decorated authors. She is most well-known for her books The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir and The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father, which received the 2017 Minnesota Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Kalia's newest book will dive into the lives of refugees in Minnesota, where her Hmong family settled after fleeing Laos and living in a refugee camp in Thailand. In 2019, Kalia co-edited a collection of essays written by Native women and women of color about miscarriage and infant loss, and her first children's book, A Map Into the World (Carolrhoda Books), was published. Kalia will also have another children's book out soon: If You Give a Boy a Room (University of MN Press). ∎