Podcast Summary: Kiran Desai on 'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny'

Podcast: All Of It with Alison Stewart, WNYC
Guest: Kiran Desai
Date: December 29, 2025

Overview

In this episode, host Alison Stewart speaks with acclaimed novelist Kiran Desai about her long-awaited new novel, "The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny." The conversation delves into themes of immigration, generational change, romantic and existential loneliness, and the evolution of global Indian identity. Desai reflects on the 20-year process behind the book, her literary influences, and draws on personal experiences, including the influence of her mother, renowned writer Anita Desai. The discussion is rich in literary and personal insights, underpinned by Desai’s thoughtful, lyrical tone.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Evolution of the Novel (02:25)

• Desai began with the intention of writing a modern, globalized Desi love story, focusing on romantic loneliness among Indian immigrants.
• The book’s scope broadened to cover generational, geographic, racial, and class divides, as well as themes of feminism, environmental loss, and historical change.
• The story spans various locations (India, New York, Mexico, Venice, rural Kentucky) and time periods, tracking multiple generations.
• The project grew to 5,000 pages at one point as Desai explored side stories and deeper themes.

"I realized that I could broaden the scope of this book and not just focus on romantic loneliness, but also about the great divides between nations... I decided to see all of those things through the lens of loneliness."
— Kiran Desai (03:20)

2. Process, Discipline, and Editing (04:34)

• Desai’s approach was exploratory—writing expansively without censoring, creating material for the novel and possibly future works.
• She elaborates on the storylines and characters left out in editing, such as Satya, a doctor in rural Kentucky.
• Her research and reading (Tolstoy, Kundera, Márquez) deeply informed the novel and its characters, both of whom are writers themselves.

"I think I was working like one of the characters in this book says, you know, like a bee or ant or an earthworm every day, taking a bit of real life and transposing it into artistic life, transferring it into pages."
— Kiran Desai (07:52)

3. Personal Change Over 20 Years (08:21)

• Desai reflects on becoming more solitary and stubborn due to the book’s demands, living in a state of spiritual discipline akin to being in a monastery.
• The discipline became so pronounced she hardly noticed the passing of time until her birthday each year.

"I became very solitary because I was working so hard and the book was so large, and I vanished into the pages of this book. I became incredibly stubborn... It's kind of like spiritual discipline."
— Kiran Desai (08:27)

4. Publisher and Editor Relationships (09:49)

• Desai expresses profound gratitude for her editors and agents, who exhibited patience and trust through the 20-year gestation of the book, even as publishers and editors changed due to retirement and death.

"They put no pressure on me. It's just astounding. Neither did my agent. They just trusted me."
— Kiran Desai (10:24)

5. The Influence of Her Mother (11:10)

• Anita Desai is Kiran’s first reader and a source of inspiration and discipline.
• Kiran recounts their move from India to the US, detailing how her mother’s writing career and international recognition shaped their family experience.

"I'm really working out of what she...what I inherited from her. I owe her so much."
— Kiran Desai (11:16)

6. Writing Environment (12:57)

• Desai’s workspace is physically overwhelmed with piles of draft pages, facing her backyard in Jackson Heights or sometimes the kitchen, overlooking an apricot tree "full of squirrels...and rats," which she humorously describes as quintessentially Jackson Heights.

7. Identity, Assimilation, and Romance (14:08)

• Both protagonists begin the novel in relationships with white Americans, reflecting pressures in their Indian upbringing to assimilate and aspire toward Western privilege.
• Desai observes how their backgrounds and expectations influence whom they love and how they navigate identity in America.

"He's expected to belong to, you know, to move towards whiteness and privilege...he knows that he's ashamed to be proud for the reason he's proud."
— Kiran Desai (16:09)

8. Reading from the Novel: The Marriage Proposal Scene (17:05)

• Desai reads a passage that introduces a traditional marriage proposal arriving from India, evoking themes of generational continuity and disconnect, the randomness of migration, and the charged emotional landscapes between love and duty.
• [Passage begins at 17:10 and is read through 19:50]

9. Generational Shifts and Loneliness (20:09)

• Desai contrasts the insular, community-bound love stories of past Indian generations with the atomized, chance encounters of global migration.
• The novel explores how the search for love is now intertwined with dislocation, privilege, and the fluidity (or loss) of identity.

"In the past of Saniya and Sonia's grandparents...an Indian love story would have been centered in one community...In Sonia and Sunny's generation, though, out in the big world, it's so much a matter of chance who you might or might not meet."
— Kiran Desai (20:09)

10. Dualities and Contradictions (21:33)

• The characters feel ambivalence—privileged for their mobility yet longing for the rootedness and innocence of their elders.

"They feel, I think, two ways. They feel two ways about many things. You think two contradictory ways."
— Kiran Desai (21:55)

11. The Nature of the Love Story (22:22)

• While a love story at its core, "The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny" is also a meditation on the divisions and distances that must be crossed to find belonging.

"It's a love story and it's also a story that's held together by the...spaces that separate them. ...I think it's actually a very old-fashioned love story."
— Kiran Desai (22:30)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On scope and artistic ambition:
  "At one time it was 5,000 pages. Can you believe it?" (03:52)
• On discipline:
  "I was getting up, working, going to my work. I had a very, very strong discipline...it became quite extreme." (09:00)
• On the Indian diaspora's expectation:
  "They're brought up to leave." (14:58)
• On privilege and contradiction:
  "It's a privilege to be able to travel and to make choices." (21:36)
• On rootedness and innocence:
  "There are people so innocent that they didn't even know that...they don't even know that loneliness exists." (21:39)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:25] Desai discusses the novel’s evolving scope
• [04:34] Editing down from 5,000 pages; cutting characters
• [07:52] Desai describes her writing discipline
• [09:49] On editorial patience and support
• [11:16] The influence of her mother, Anita Desai
• [13:03] Desai describes her physical writing space
• [14:08] Discussion of protagonists’ relationships with white partners and assimilation
• [17:10–19:50] Desai reads the marriage proposal scene
• [20:09] Generational and cultural contrasts
• [22:22] Discussion on the novel as a love story

Conclusion

This conversation offers a deeply personal and reflective exploration of immigration, generational difference, identity, love, and the artistic journey. Desai’s candor about the decades-long writing process, her creative discipline, and the profound ways her family history intertwines with her fiction makes this episode essential listening for readers and writers alike. The novel itself emerges as a sprawling yet intimate exploration of the global Indian experience and the universal search for connection.