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SEPTEMBER 2023
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Today, we welcome 15 Class of 2024 National Fellows to New America. This Class of National Fellows includes writers, scholars, podcasters, and filmmakers dedicated to enhancing conversations around the most pressing issues of our time.
This special issue of the Fifth Draft features all members of our new cohort, which we hope you will enjoy. Meet the Class of 2024 here.
Please also take a look at the many highlights from the Class of 2023 here.
Awista Ayub
Director, Fellows Program
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Three questions with...
2024 New Arizona Fellow Caitlin Dickerson
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Your Fellows Project will be a book that explores deportation in the United States. Can you share the genesis of this project?
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The idea for this book began to percolate as I was reporting some of my first stories about immigration, while I was at NPR during the Obama administration. I realized that a lot of immigration writing led up to the moment when a person was either deported or not, but us journalists were rarely sticking around to find out what happened afterward. Over the years, I also became increasingly interested in how effectively immigrant—and in particular, unauthorized immigrant labor—is hidden from public view, as well as how the powerful law enforcement lobby perpetuates the status quo. I decided I wanted to try to tell that story comprehensively, through intimate narrative writing and deep research, in a way that depoliticizes the issue as much as possible, while making clear that it impacts almost every American and American community.
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You won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting for your piece on the separation of migrant children from their parents during the Trump administration. How does that work tie into your book project?
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The book won’t draw directly from my reporting on family separation but they’re certainly connected. The best way to explain this is to quote loosely from my Fellows project proposal, which talks about those early journalistic encounters I had with families that were impacted by deportation: “As I went on to spend years covering other issues—dismal conditions inside massive detention centers, asylum seekers expelled to their deaths, the forced wrenching of children from their parents—it became clear to me that these phenomena flowed outward and resulted from the core of our nation’s immigration system: deportation. The more I learned about how and why that system was built, the clearer it became that immigration status can prove as critical as socioeconomics, gender, or race in carving the trajectory of a person’s life.”
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How do you hope your book will contribute to policy and the ongoing debate around deportation and immigration in the United States?
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My hope is that shedding light on the reality of our relationship to immigrants living in the US without legal authorization—which is actually much more symbiotic than it is often portrayed—will help people to see the issue with fresh eyes. I also hope to arm readers with the information they need to push back against the lazy talking points that are often employed by politicians on both sides of the aisle to score points by blaming each other for various aspects of the system that aren’t working while dodging any sense of responsibility for fixing it.
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Number Go Up
A compelling account of how Sam Bankman-Fried and a cast of fellow nerds and hustlers turned useless virtual coins into trillions of dollars.
By: Zeke Faux, Class of 2023
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Fear Is Just a Word
A riveting true story of a mother who fought back against the drug cartels in Mexico, pursuing her own brand of justice to avenge the kidnapping and murder of her daughter.
By: Azam Ahmed, Class of 2022
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The Hungry Season
An unforgettable portrait of resilience: a nonfiction drama ranging from the mist-covered mountains of Laos to the sunbaked flatlands of Fresno, California, tracing one woman's journey to overcome the wounds inflicted by war and family alike.
By: Lisa M. Hamilton, Class of 2019
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The Class of 2024 on what made them decide to apply for a New America Fellowship.
1: I'm writing my first book, which is both fascinating and incredibly challenging. I applied because I've always learned so much from other writers, and wanted to do this work as part of a community. I also admire many former fellows, including Rachel Aviv and Patrick Radden Keefe. — Olivia Goldhill
2: In our fast-paced, news-saturated world, the books that make it onto shelves and into dinner table conversation tend to be those that not only address important issues, but do so by telling a compelling story. New America has a solid track record of supporting this kind of book. I'm excited to bring the skills and insights I glean from the fellowship to my own narrative non-fiction book project. — Sarah Esther Maslin
3: I've long admired the work of previous fellows, and wanted to be part of a community of writers that is invested in both story-telling and policy change. I'm equally excited to learn from fellows thinking about vastly different issues than what I focus on.
— Rozina Ali
4: Aside from my admiration for the writers and books that have been a part of this program, I have been yearning for community—intellectual and artistic—as I work to complete my next book project. New America was perfect for me.
— Casey Gerald
5: I have long admired the work of so many people who have been past fellows and was inspired to be in conversation with others who are thinking creatively and critically about the issues we face. — Laura Mauldin
6: I applied for the New America Fellowship because I know that the most powerful stories can incite social change. The filmmakers and writers who've received this fellowship have produced projects that have made me think more deeply about who I am, who we are, and how—at the very least—our humanity ties us together. Excited to be in community with my people! — Sian-Pierre Regis
7: I’m working on a feature length documentary film and the communal experience of a fellowship is really inspiring and uplifting through some of the difficult parts of the work. — JoeBill Muñoz
8: The cohorts have consistently featured people making such interesting work, I'm genuinely curious to receive their feedback on my own.
— Matthew Wolfe
9: I wanted to join a community where we can learn from each other to tackle difficult and complicated topics with a nuanced approach and develop a comprehensive understanding of the world we live in. — Jiayan "Jenny" Shi
10: I was drawn to the possibility of learning from and fellowshipping with other creatives, hopefully bringing my own knowledge to this cohort, and having more resources to pursue my writing, and actually getting *paid* for it?? It’s a dream come true. — Malaika Jabali
11: I always love the books New America supports! — Kate Daloz
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Cara Fitzpatrick's book The Death of Public School was reviewed in the New York Times Sunday book review.
Monica B. Potts was interviewed about her book, The Forgotten Girls, on Wisconsin Public Radio. Her book was also excerpted in the Texas Observer.
Jonathan Blitzer wrote about the Guatemalan general election for the New Yorker.
Tanisha C. Ford was interviewed about her forthcoming book, Our Secrety Society, in Publishers Weekly.
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The top 3 New America events we recommend you check out. Now.
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SEP 21ST
Number Go Up
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Join the Fellows Program for a conversation with author Zeke Faux, Class of 2023, and Rebecca Spang, Class of 2023, about Number Go Up. Learn more.
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SEP 27TH
Fear is Just a Word
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Join the Fellows Program for a conversation with author Azam Ahmed, Class of 2022, and Jonathan Blitzer, Class of 2021, about Fear is Just a Word. Learn more.
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OCT 3RD
The Hungry Season
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Join the Fellows Program for a conversation with author Lisa M. Hamilton, Class of 2019, and Jill Filipovic, Class of 2019, about The Hungry Season. Learn more.
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Harald Jähner's panorama of everyday life in the ruins of Nazi Germany is a clarifying account of human nature in extremis, subtle proof that there are no miracles of statecraft and that people do not change.
— Ben Mauk,
Class of 2024
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I picked it up after finding a note I made to myself in 2013 to read it—probably someone’s late night recommendation. Better late than never!
— Atossa Araxia Abrahamian,
Class of 2024
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Attuned to the small revelations and wonders they provide, Bengal gets to the heart of what draws us to photographs and how they cements our collective memory- important considerations for creating a photobook.
— Victor J. Blue,
Class of 2024
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