Sunny Dhillon, "Hide and Sikh: Letters from a Life in Brown Skin" (Wolsak and Wynn, 2025)

Feb 3, 2026

Sunny Dhillon, former Canadian reporter turned memoirist, writes candid letters to his daughter about growing up brown in Canada. He discusses his viral resignation essay, choosing an epistolary form, childhood shame around name and language, and why he refuses to hide his identity anymore. The conversation mixes sharp humor, honest reflection, and the politics of visibility.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Book As Letters To His Daughter

Sunny Dhillon wrote the book as letters to his daughter to pass on lessons he wished he'd had.
The epistolary form centers intimate memory while teaching his child about living proudly in brown skin.

ANECDOTE

Playground Incident That Sparked The Letters

The book opens with Sunny's daughter present for an overt act of racism at an Ottawa playground.
That moment prompted them to leave and shaped many of the letters' lessons.

INSIGHT

Fatherhood Brings Cautious Hope

Becoming a father shifted Sunny's outlook from despair toward cautious hope.
Watching his daughter move fearlessly convinced him hope is possible despite systemic racism.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Sunny Dhillon about his book, Hide & Sikh: Letters from a Life in Brown Skin (Wolsak & Wynn, 2025). In 2018, Sunny Dhillon resigned as a journalist with the Globe and Mail. His blog post announcing his departure went unexpectedly viral. It was a decision that had been long brewing and Dhillon posted the piece with the hope that it would lead to “meaningful reflection on the lack of diversity in Canadian journalism and the problems therein.” But he was not optimistic.

In this sharply funny memoir, shaped as a series of letters to his daughter, Dhillon explains why he was not hopeful. From his earliest memories, his experience of being Canadian was shaped by race, and as a child he’d often found himself confused by what he should do when the fact he was “different” was raised. His first reaction was to hide – from his skin colour, from his native tongue and even from his name. Until he realized he didn’t feel the need to hide anymore, that he didn’t want to hide anymore. With warmth, honesty and lots of humour, Dhillon shares his journey so that his daughter will not have to struggle through the lessons he took too long to learn, so that she will know who she is and be proud.

Sunny Dhillon is a former news reporter whose viral essay “Journalism While Brown and When to Walk Away” highlighted the significant challenges that journalists of colour can face. Sunny worked as a print reporter for ten years. He has also appeared on television and radio and has spoken at conferences. He is passionate about racial justice and continues to write on that theme. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of British Columbia. He and his young family now live in Ontario, where Sunny attends law school. This is his first book.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network