Starstruck by Sarafina El-Badry Nance

In a beautifully written and science-packed debut memoir, Egyptian-American astrophysicist Sarafina Nance shares her personal story of overcoming sexism, racism, and adversity, and appreciating the most important moments and people in her life by focusing on her lifelong love of the stars.

As a child, Sarafina Nance spent nearly every evening with her father, gazing up at the flickering stars and pondering what secrets the night sky held. She dreamt of becoming an astronomer from this early age, but it wasn’t long before she was told, both explicitly and implicitly, that girls just weren’t cut out for math and science.

In Starstruck, Sarafina captures both the wonders of the Universe and traces more earthbound obstacles—of misogyny and racism, anxiety and self-doubt, cancer diagnoses and recovery—she faced along the way. The strategies and mindset Sarafina developed to thrive in a space that is, by design, not for women and especially not for women of color, are not only applicable to her career in Astrophysics but directly carry into other areas of life. Honest and empowering, Starstruck sits at the intersection of the study of our Cosmos—itself constantly changing—and the messy and transformative experience of pursuing one’s passion through life’s inevitable challenges.

Sarafina El-Badry Nance is an astrophysicist, advocate, author, speaker, and science communicator whose work has been featured in NPR, the BBC, National Geographic, SF Chronicle, Refinery29, and elsewhere. She has published three academic papers in both the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and The Astrophysical Journal. She has discussed astronomy on NPR’s Short Wave, and her journey with breast cancer, women’s health, and genetic mutations on BBC’s Woman’s Hour, as well as on her social media platforms, and hosts the astronomy show Constellations by Seeker, a YouTube channel with 50+ million monthly video views and 4.55 million subscribers. She lives in Berkeley with her partner and her dog, Comet.

Author Residence: Berkeley, CA

Author Hometown: Austin, Texas