Author Interview with Prachi Gupta

On her debut memoir: They Called Us Exceptional (and other lies that raised us)

Prachi’s vital, heartbreaking, radical memoir, “They Called Us Exceptional”, is one that will stay with me for a long, long time. The bravery with which she pens the most intimate details of her life is astounding — and the writing itself is stunning, to boot.

To read this book is to push at the edges of our own understanding. To interrupt the stories that we’ve been told -- about our culture, our identity, our understanding of love.

How can we help each other, first and foremost, by being honest about what ails us? How can we walk each other through the depths of our collective darkness? How can we let ourselves learn about what we don’t yet know? How can we trust ourselves amidst the forces of true chaos?

These are the interrogations that Prachi prompts — in her book and in our interview. And these questions feel urgently relevant for the times we find ourselves in now.

I hope you’ll read the condensed interview or listen to the full audio. I hope you’ll let yourself be moved by both her intellect and her heart. I hope you’ll share this conversation with someone that might need it.