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A bittersweet and humorous memoir of family—of the silence and ignorance that separate us, and the blood and stories that connect us—from an award-winning New York Times writer and comedian.

Approaching his 30th birthday, Sopan Deb had found comfort in his day job as a writer for the New York Times and a practicing comedian. But his stage material highlighting his South Asian culture only served to mask the insecurities borne from his family history. Sure, Deb knew the facts: his parents, both Indian, separately immigrated to North America in the 1960s and 1970s. They were brought together in a volatile and ultimately doomed arranged marriage and raised a family in suburban New Jersey before his father returned to India alone.

But Deb had never learned who his parents were as individuals—their ages, how many siblings they had, what they were like as children, what their favorite movies were. Theirs was an ostensibly nuclear family without any of the familial bonds. Coming of age in a mostly white suburban town, Deb’s alienation led him to seek separation from his family and his culture, longing for the tight-knit home environment of his white friends. His desire wasn’t rooted in racism or oppression; it was born of envy and desire—for white moms who made after-school snacks and asked his friends about the girls they liked and the teachers they didn’t. Deb yearned for the same.

Deb’s experiences as one of the few minorities covering the Trump campaign, and subsequently as a stand up comedian, propelled him on a dramatic journey to India to see his father—the first step in a life altering journey to bridge the emotional distance separating him from those whose DNA he shared. Deb had to learn to connect with this man he recognized yet did not know—and eventually breach the silence separating him from his mother. As it beautifully and poignantly chronicles Deb’s odyssey, Missed Translations raises questions essential to us all: 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?

– Tariq Rahman, Dean of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Beaconhouse National University; Author of A History of Pakistani Literature in English 1947-1988

‘Tahira Naqvi has done a great service to the cause of transnational Marxist feminism in presenting to readers the iconic feminist poetry of Riaz, which evolves over her life and career, from solitary musings of “empowered” selfhood to a more communitarian understanding and embrace of solidarity across gender, class, nation in the pursuit of justice.”
– Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Professor of English and University Distinguished Scholar, Montclair State University; Author of Siren Song: Understanding Pakistan through its Women Singers

“An amazing sangam (confluence) of two creative feminists.”

– Kamla Bhasin, poet, author and feminist activist; Author of Understanding Gender

“Although every language has its own canvas that reflects the beauty of its words and culture, Tahira Naqvi’s English translations of the Urdu poetry of Fahmida Riaz fit well into that canvas, the words are like a stream flowing from the hills.”
– Kishwar Naheed, poet; Author of Buri Aurat ki Kathaa