Gary Shteyngart Writes From a Child’s Point of View

The cast of characters in Vera, or Faith, by Gary Shteyngart, professor of writing at School of the Arts, includes the Bradford-Shmulkin family, which is falling apart. A modern blend of Russian, Jewish, Korean, and New England WASP, they love one another deeply, but the pressures of life in an unstable America are fraying their bonds. There’s Daddy, a struggling, cash-thirsty editor whose Russian heritage gives him new currency in the world of 21st-century geopolitics; his wife, Anne Mom, a progressive, underfunded Boston blue blood who’s barely holding the household together; their son, Dylan, whose blond hair and Mayflower lineage provide him pride of place in the current American political order; and, above all, young Vera, half-Jewish, half-Korean, and a true original.

Observant, sensitive, and always writing down new vocabulary words, Vera wants only three things in life—to make a friend at school; Daddy and Anne Mom to stay together; and to meet her birth mother, Mom Mom, who will at last tell Vera the secret of who she really is, and how to ensure love’s survival.

Columbia News caught up with Shteyngart to ask him about the novel, among other things.

How did this book come about?

I saw Kramer vs. Kramer on a long plane ride and I thought, Oh, right! I love writing about divorce! But it’s always from the point of view of the parents. Why not do the child’s POV like Henry James did in What Maisie Knew? 

What is it like to write from the perspective of a child?

It’s interesting, because a lot of middle-aged people who read the book tell me they were just like Vera when they were growing up. I guess all readers are the same—both super literate and super anxious.

Have you read any good books lately that you would recommend?

I just read a biography of that schmuck, William F. Buckley Jr., the longest book I’ve read in ages. 868 pages! It was excellent, but I still deserve a medal.

What are you working on now?

I’ve written more than 100 essays over the past 25 years, and it’s time to turn them into a book. 

What are you teaching in the spring when you return to Columbia?

I will teach a class called So You Wanna Write Funny, for people who wanna write funny, and also a workshop.

What is the key piece of advice you offer your students about being a writer?

Voice! Figure out what your unique voice is and channel that into your work. Don’t write like a “writer,” and don’t be pretentious. Okay, don’t be extra pretentious. A little goes a long way.

Gary Shteyngart will read from Vera, or Faith and have a discussion with Bruce Robbins, Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities, at 6:30 pm on November 13, 2025 at the Lenfest Center for the Arts.