"With a voice utterly her own-full of desire, humor, vulnerability, and deep wisdom-Ber Anena tells the extraordinary story of her journey as a writer. . . Her story will stay with me for good."
-Leslie Jamison, New York Times bestselling author of The Empathy Exams
In 2019, Ugandan writer Ber Anena opened her email and was overjoyed to find that she'd been accepted into Columbia University's prestigious MFA in Writing. Then, reality struck: It would cost approximately $150,000 in tuition and fees alone for the two-year degree.
Anena scrambles to secure funding, leaving the security of her stable income, apartment, and family in Uganda for great uncertainty in the United States. Studying in New York quickly morphs from an ideal to an ordeal. From maneuvering icy roommates to grappling with food insecurity and calling out racism in her writing workshops, Anena begins to rewrite the narrative of the American Dream she had once accepted.
Incandescent and uncompromising, funny and humane, The Lies We Tell for America charts the lengths students from "shithole" countries go to seek an education in the West. These pages lay bare Anena's own cultural assumptions, while shining light on a particular kind of migrant experience. After everything-was coming to America worth it?
