""Wide-ranging yet consistently affecting, these pieces offer a
crucial and inspired survey of the immigrant experience in America.""
-Publishers Weekly
"[These contributions] touch on so many different facets of the
immigrant experience that readers will find much to ponder... [and]
experience how creative writing enriches our understanding of each other
and our lives." -Booklist
Introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen
A unique collection of 41 groundbreaking essays, poems, and artwork by
migrants, refugees and Dreamers--including award-winning writers,
artists, and activists--that illuminate what it is like living
undocumented today.
In the overheated debate about immigration, we often lose sight of the
humanity at the heart of this complex issue. The immigrants and refugees
living precariously in the United States are mothers and fathers,
children, neighbors, and friends. Individuals propelled by hope and
fear, they gamble their lives on the promise of America, yet their
voices are rarely heard.
This anthology of essays, poetry, and art seeks to shift the immigration
debate--now shaped by rancorous stereotypes and xenophobia--towards one
rooted in humanity and justice. Through their storytelling and art, the
contributors to this thought-provoking book remind us that they are
human still. Transcending their current immigration status, they offer
nuanced portraits of their existence before and after migration, the
factors behind their choices, the pain of leaving their homeland and
beginning anew in a strange country, and their collective hunger for a
future not defined by borders.
Created entirely by undocumented or formerly undocumented migrants,
Somewhere We Are Human is a journey of memory and yearning from people
newly arrived to America, those who have been here for decades, and
those who have ultimately chosen to leave or were deported. Touching on
themes of race, class, gender, nationality, sexuality, politics, and
parenthood, Somewhere We Are Human reveals how joy, hope, mourning,
and perseverance can take root in the toughest soil and bloom in the
harshest conditions.
