{{Short description|Indian-American author}} {{Infobox person | name = Sarah Thankam Mathews | birth_place = Bangalore, India | alma_mater = Iowa Writer's Workshop | notable_works = "All This Could Be Different" | website = https://www.smathewss.com/ }}
'''Sarah Thankam Mathews''' is an Indian-American novelist. Her debut novel, ''All This Could Be Different'', was a finalist for the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction.
== Early life == Mathews was born in Bangalore, India to Malayali parents.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=P |first=Jinoy Jose |date=2022-10-18 |title='Same-sex love has always existed, and it is a part of life' |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/books/interview-sarah-thankam-mathews-all-this-could-be-different-same-sex-love-has-always-existed-and-it-is-a-part-of-life/article66026943.ece |access-date=2023-01-29 |website=frontline.thehindu.com |language=en}}</ref> Her parents quickly moved with her to Muscat, Oman where she was raised in a tight-knit Indian enclave.<ref name=":0" />
She moved to the United States with her family when she was 17.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Kumar |first=Arun |date=2022-10-11 |title=Sarah Thankam Mathews among 2022 National Book Awards finalists |url=https://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2022/10/11/sarah-thankam-mathews-among-2022-national-book-awards-finalists-451306/ |access-date=2023-01-29 |website=The American Bazaar |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-17 |title=Pride Spotlight: Sarah Thankam Mathews' Novel and Politics Prove She Believes 'All This Could Be Different' |url=https://observer.com/2022/06/pride-spotlight-sarah-thankam-mathews-novel-and-politics-prove-she-believes-all-this-could-be-different/ |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=Observer |language=en-US}}</ref> She attended college at the University of Wisconsin–Madison,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Provost |first=Megan |date= |title=The Roaring Twenties {{!}} On Wisconsin |url=https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/the-roaring-twenties/ |access-date=2023-04-25 |language=en-US}}</ref> where she served as president of the Wisconsin Union Directorate in 2012–2013.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mathews |first=Sarah Thankam |date=29 June 2016 |title=This Land Is Our Land, Donald Trump |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/sarahmathews/its-like-you-were-born-american |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=BuzzFeed |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mathews |first=Sarah |date=2012 |title=Inspire Community Through a Sense of Place |magazine=Wisconsin Union Annual |page=5}}</ref> She subsequently attended the Iowa Writers Workshop as a Rona Jaffe Fellow.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sarah Thankam Mathews {{!}} Kenyon Review Author |url=https://kenyonreview.org/contributor/sarah-thankam-mathews/ |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=The Kenyon Review |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Career == Mathews' first novel, ''All This Could Be Different'', was published by Penguin Books in 2022. The novel centers a South Asian queer protagonist who is navigating love, friendship, and career in Milwaukee during the Great Recession and the Obama presidency.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=21 November 2022 |title=Sarah Thankam Mathews' 6 favorite books about life-changing experiences and self discovery |url=https://theweek.com/feature/1018556/sarah-thankam-mathews-6-favorite-books |access-date=2023-01-29 |website=The Week |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-18 |title=Sarah Thankam Mathews Has Written One of the Buzziest, Most Human Novels of the Year |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/sarah-thankam-mathews-all-this-could-be-different-interview |access-date=2023-01-29 |website=Vogue |language=en-US}}</ref> The novel was received with critical acclaim and was a finalist for the 2022 National Book Award.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Briefly reviewed in the [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/05/memoirs-france-the-hop-and-all-this-could-be-different September 5, 2022 issue] of ''The New Yorker'', p.59.</ref>
Mathews was also previously a Margins Fellow at the Asian American Writers' Workshop,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-08 |title=Introducing the 2020 AAWW Margins Fellows |url=https://aaww.org/2020-aaww-margins-fellows/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Asian American Writers' Workshop |language=en-US}}</ref> and her short story, ''Rubberdust'', was selected for ''The Best American Short Stories'' of 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Malayali novelist Sarah Thankam Mathews shortlisted for America's prestigious literary prize |url=https://www.onmanorama.com/lifestyle/news/2022/10/05/sarah-thankam-mathews-novel-all-this-could-be-different-national-book-awards-nominee.html |access-date=2023-01-29 |website=OnManorama}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2022-08-03 |title=Sarah Thankam Mathews' Debut Novel, 'All This Could Be Different,' Isn't Your Average Coming-of-Age Book |url=https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/books/a40786337/sarah-thankam-mathews-all-this-could-be-different/ |access-date=2023-01-29 |website=Shondaland |language=en-us |archive-date=2023-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129022605/https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/books/a40786337/sarah-thankam-mathews-all-this-could-be-different/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Personal life == Mathews lives in Brooklyn and considers Kerala to be her ancestral home.<ref name=":0" />
== Published works ==
* (2022) ''All This Could Be Different.'' New York: Viking. ISBN 978-0-593-48912-3
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Sarah Thankam}} Category:Indian expatriates in the United States Category:Living people Category:21st-century Indian novelists Category:English-language Indian writers Category:21st-century American novelists Category:American women writers of Indian descent Category:American people of Malayali descent Category:American women novelists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century Indian women novelists