This program presents award-winning journalist Prachi Gupta’s debut memoir, They Called Us Exceptional: And Other Lies That Raised Us. Prachi’s debut is a probing, heartfelt exploration of the psychological harm caused by the model minority myth, and what it takes to break free from its constraints. As a girl, Prachi did not realize that her achievement-oriented personality wasn’t really her–it was a persona forged by American immigration policy, the legacy of colonialism, and the caste system in India. In They Called Us Exceptional, she articulates the dissonance, shame, and isolation of being upheld as an American success story while privately navigating traumas that remain invisible to the world. The memoir urges readers to re-evaluate deeply entrenched cultural beliefs about success by showing how much damage these expectations do to real people’s families, bodies, and lives.

Prachi rewrites her own story by weaving personal narrative with immigration history, postcolonial theory, and research on mental health, connecting her personal experiences to a larger political and social context. While the experiences Gupta details are specific, the questions that drive the book are universal: How do we understand ourselves when the story about who we are supposed to be is stronger than our sense of self? And what do we do when self-determination means letting go of the people we love the most?

This reading is followed by a moderated conversation, an audience Q&A, and a book signing. You can purchase your own copy of Prachi’s book, They Called Us Exceptional: And Other Lies That Raised Us, at City of Asylum Bookstore.

Prachi Gupta is an award-winning journalist and former senior reporter at Jezebel. She won a Writers Guild Award for her investigative essay “Stories About My Brother,” which inspired this book. Her work was featured in The Best American Magazine Writing 2021 and has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, Marie Claire, Salon, Elle, and elsewhere. Prachi is a Pennsylvania native and University of Pittsburgh alum, and currently resides in New York City.

Untangling the Roots of the Model Minority Myth with Prachi Gupta