Coming of age has long been the subject of scholarship and great storytelling. Nikhil Goyal combines both in a study that shines a light on the lived experience of young people making the transition from childhood to adulthood while living in poverty.

Goyal is a sociologist and his book “Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty” was named one of the best books of 2023 by The New Yorker. The book focuses on three Puerto Rican kids who grow up in Kensington, the poorest neighborhood in Philadelphia. He is a policymaker who served as senior policy advisor on education and children for Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and Budget Committee. Goyal developed education, childcare, and child tax credit federal legislation as well as a tuition-free college program for incarcerated people and correctional workers in Vermont.