On this episode of Articulate Experience—three writers who grew up with distinct vantage points on American identity.

Gish Jen was raised in the 1960s by Chinese immigrants living in New York. It took decades of learning, reflecting, and writing, for her to embrace the full complexity of her bi-cultural identity—but looking back, she wouldn’t change a thing.

The sci-fi/fantasy writer Tochi Onyebuchi has always been fascinated by other people and their perspectives. But it was only after he started writing about his own experiences as a Nigerian-American in his mid-twenties that his speculative fiction began to take off. Today, he’s earned some of the genre’s highest honors.

Deborah Eisenberg came of age with the so-called, “peace and love generation” —educated young Americans who believed that the world was changing for the better. Over four decades, her short stories have formed a record of her evolving understanding of her native country, and of herself.

• [1:38] Gish Jen
• [17:25] Tochi Onyebuchi
• [34:12] Deborah Eisenberg

Articulate Experience examines stories of humanity, resilience, and wisdom through the words of some of today’s greatest writers.

Articulate Experience is a production of the Articulate Foundation.

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