Here and There: 15 Memoirs About the Immigrant Experience in America

by Abdi Nor Iftin

Shares the author's journey from Somalia to the United States, including his early love of American music and movies, his survival under a radical Islamist group, and how he made his way to the United States using the annual visa lottery.

by Sejal Shah

The daughter of immigrants from Indian and Kenya, Shah wrestles with her experiences growing up in-and returning to-western New York, an area of stark racial and socioeconomic segregation. This is a book about growing up Indian in non-Indian places, about what it means to be American, South Asian American, a writer of color, and a feminist. 

by Tarek El-Ariss

Water on Fire tells a story of immigration that starts in a Beirut devastated by the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90), continues with experiences of displacement in Europe and Africa, moves to northeastern American towns battered by lake-effect snow and economic woes, and ends in New York City on 9/11. A story of loss, but also of evolution, it models a kind of resilience inflected with humor, daring, and irreverence.

by Curtis Chin

The cofounder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop tells his story of growing up as a gay Chinese kid in 1980s Detroit and how he found refuge in a welcoming Chinese restaurant: Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone—from the city’s first Black mayor to the local drag queens, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples—could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal.

by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez

Exploring separation, generational trauma and the toll of the American dream, the author recounts what happened when, at 15, her parents were forced back to Mexico, leaving her and her brother to fend for themselves as underage children affected by broken immigration laws.

by Lamya H.

A queer Muslim immigrant recalls her coming of age and how she drew inspiration from the stories in the Quran throughout her lifetime search for safety and belonging. 
 

by Helena Rho

Helena Rho was six years old when her family left Seoul, Korea, for America and its opportunities. Years later, her Korean-ness behind her, Helena had everything a model minority was supposed to want: she was married to a white American doctor and had a beautiful home, two children, and a career. For decades she fulfilled the expectations of others—all the while keeping silent about the traumas that left her anxious yet determined to escape. It would take a catastrophic event for Helena to abandon her career, recover her Korean identity, and set in motion a journey of self-discovery.

by Aarti Namdev Shahani

The Shahanis came to Queens—from India, by way of Casablanca—in the 1980s. They were undocumented for a few unsteady years and then, with the arrival of their green cards, they thought they'd made it. This is the story of how they did, and didn't; the unforeseen obstacles that propelled them into years of disillusionment and heartbreak; and the strength of a family determined to stay together.

by Julia Alvarez

Traces the novelist's life as the daughter of immigrants who fled the Dominican Republic and her efforts to assimilate—surviving the shock of New York City life; yearning to fit in; training her tongue (and her mind) to speak English—and to become a writer.

by Porochista Khakpour

Porochista Khakpour's family moved to Los Angeles after fleeing the Iranian Revolution, giving up their successes only to be greeted by an alienating culture. Growing up as an immigrant in America means that one has to make one's way through a confusing tangle of conflicting cultures and expectations. And Porochista is pulled between the glitzy culture of Tehrangeles, an enclave of wealthy Iranians and Persians in LA, her own family's modest life and culture, and becoming an assimilated American.

by Victoria Buitron

In this electrifying debut, Victoria Buitron comes of age between Ecuador and the United States as she explores her ancestry, learns two languages, and searches for a place she can call home. It portrays not only the immigrant experience, but the often-overlooked repatriate experience while interweaving facets of depression, family history, and self-love. 

by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

An award-winning poet chronicles his experiences of growing up undocumented in the United States, describing how his family and his attempt to establish an adult life were heartbreakingly complicated by racist policies. 

by Ayser Salman

Recounts the author's experiences as a young Iraqi immigrant trying to fit in among her American counterparts, discussing her parents' strict rules, her ill-advised romantic dalliances, and the isolation she felt after 9/11.

by Anna Qu

A young girl forced to work in a Queens sweatshop calls child services on her mother in this powerful debut memoir about labor and self-worth that traces a Chinese immigrant’s journey to an American future.
 

by Rafael Agustin

Growing up, Rafa’s parents didn't want him to feel different because, as his mom told him: "Dreams should not have borders." But when he tried to get his driver's license during his junior year of high school, his parents were forced to reveal his immigration status. Illegally Yours is a heartwarming, comical look at how this struggling Ecuadorian immigrant family bonded together to navigate Rafa's school life, his parents' work lives, and their shared secret life as undocumented Americans, determined to make the best of their always turbulent and sometimes dangerous American existence.