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Shilpi Somaya Gowda was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her previous novels, Secret Daughter, The Golden Son, and The Shape of Family became international bestsellers, selling over two million copies worldwide, in over 30 languages. She holds degrees from Stanford University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead-Cain scholar. She lives in California with her husband and children.
Shilpi Somaya Gowda's website
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What made you want to write this book? How much of A Great Country is drawn from your own experiences?
In the summer of 1989, I worked as an intern with the Minneapolis Police Department as part of my college scholarship. I developed appreciation for the dangers police officers face every day, and respect for those who put their lives on the line to improve their communities.
Thirty years later, when the Minneapolis Police Department was in the news, I watched in shock and sorrow, as did many others, as the life of George Floyd was extinguished by an officer of the law. I thought more about what I'd seen that summer as a nineteen-year-old, trying to reconcile the many brave and decent officers I'd met with what I now saw in a horrific 8:46 minute video clip. It was not, of course, the first nor the last time such a tragedy would occur. Incidents of police brutality have always been part of our society, but the rise of smartphones and social media have made it more visible, and made us all more aware. In the following months, the discussions I witnessed were fraught and often extreme, with people starkly defending one side or the other, and most eager for a decisive solution. It struck me that these conversations were lacking.
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