Immigrant Memoirs

Witty, sharp, and unflinching, I Named My Dog Pushkin will have fans of Samantha Irby and Jenny Lawson howling with laughter at Margarita’s catastrophes, her victories, and her near misses as she learns to grow as both a woman and an immigrant in a world that often doesn’t appreciate either.

The final work from the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, actor, and musician, drawn from his transformative last days In searing, beautiful prose, Sam Shepard’s extraordinary narrative leaps off the page with its immediacy and power. It tells in a brilliant braid of voices the story of an...

From the host of MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight, “a rich and revealing memoir” (The New York Times) about her travels around the globe to solve the mystery of her ancestry, confronting the question at the heart of the American experience of immigration, race, and identity: Who are my...

A bittersweet and humorous memoir of family—of the silence and ignorance that separate us, and the blood and stories that connect us—from an award-winning New York Times writer and comedian. Approaching his 30 birthday, Sopan Deb had found comfort in his day job as a writer for the New York...

Dr. Michael Flavius chronicles his journey as a Black, accented immigrant navigating the complexities of American society. From a modest upbringing in the Caribbean to standing tall in boardrooms, churches, and national platforms, his story is one of faith, perseverance, and purpose. Amidst the harsh realities of racism, cultural bias, and exclusion, Dr. Flavius found strength through his visionary, signature & empowering framework. This life-changing approach not only shaped his personal journey but also serves as a guiding light for others seeking clarity, resilience, and fulfillment.

Junior Library Guild Selection * New York Public Library's Best Books for Teens * Goodreads Choice Awards Nonfiction Finalist * Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Books for Teens: Nonfiction * 2018 Texas Topaz Nonfiction List * YALSA's 2018 Quick Picks List * Bank Street's 2018 Best...

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 as an assistant professor of pediatrics. For decades she fulfilled the expectations of others. All the while Helena kept silent about the traumas - both professional and personal - that left her anxious yet determined to escape.

Born in the Philippines, young Grace Talusan moves with her family to a New England suburb in the 1970s. At school, she confronts racism as one of the few kids with a brown face. At home, the confusion is worse: her grandfather's nightly visits to her room leave her hurt and terrified, and she learns to build a protective wall of silence that maps onto the larger silence practiced by her Catholic Filipino family. Later, she learns that her family history is threaded with violence and abuse. Despite all this, she finds love, and success as a teacher.

The riveting true story of Noel W. Lamidey, an English immigrant who arrived in Australia in the 1920s and went on to establish one of the most extraordinary migration schemes the world had ever seen. Immigrants and Spies is the story of Noel W. Lamidey, who in 1946 was sent to London by the Chifley government to establish Australia's migration scheme. It describes the trials and tribulations he had in establishing such a gigantic organisation for Australia in another country.

In this unflinching and inspiring memoir, Jesse Leon tells an extraordinary story of resilience and survival, shining a light on a childhood spent devastated by sex trafficking, street life, and substance abuse. "A book for survivors and those who know someone they hope survives, bodhisattvas...

Named a Best Memoir of 2023 by Oprah Daily Selected by Time, NPR, and BookPage as a Best Book of 2023 “This book…is what memoir writing in the hands of a caring, curious wunderkind can be.” —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy From the award-winning author of Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, a...

For fans of Aftershocks and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, an affective and deeply honest memoir in essays that “asks the deepest questions of identity, of home, of belonging” (Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City). When Theresa Okokon was nine, her...

The only thing my father ever said about his Italian immigrant family was that his parents died in the 1930s, shortly after arriving at Ellis Island. Except they didn't. Once I began the search for my grandparents, I mostly ran into dead-ends. Until the 1940 census. My grandparents magically appear, but as inmates at the Rockland Insane Asylum. What happened? Why all the secrecy? And how did I use genealogy to unravel the mystery?

Long before creating Covet by Christos, the world's leading livestreamer of all things luxury, future founder and CEO Christos Garkinos grew up in Detroit as the gay son of Greek immigrants and started working in his parents' diner at the age of four. Seeking a bigger life post-college, Garkinos took a job under Richard Branson in the mid-90's heyday of Virgin Megastores. Beginning to rub shoulders with A-list celebrities, he embarked on a 25-year fashion and media career with many highs and lows.

From the world’s great concert halls to Los Angeles’s Skid Row, violinist Vijay Gupta’s searing memoir of prodigy, ambition, collapse, and renewal reveals how music is not just performance but also survival, a lifeline of human connection when everything else falls away—for readers of...

Questions about color, race, and migration permeate the very fabric of our consciousness - including the workforce. This audiobook attempts to answer these questions by proposing seven transformative principles (with true-life stories and lessons) - that will help steer the listener to forging a practical plan of action for navigating the gnarly waters of corporate America.

Focused on faith and woven with Christian, ecumenical, and patriotic themes, Our Immigrants’ Son is an exploration and celebration of family. The genres of prose poetry and historical fiction very cleverly takes you through the author’s rich Irish American history. It begins in misty Ireland and takes you through generations of the Murphy clan while also teaching you how to write your family story.

Sam Louie grew up torn between cultures as part of a first-generation Chinese immigrant family from Hong Kong living in a predominantly African American neighborhood in the United States. He experienced the duality of existence with the tension of two vastly different worldviews, his identity intertwined with the country he lives in and his ancestral ties. What traditions and cultural beliefs get preserved, what gets discarded, and what gets lost in translation? Beneath it all was the presence of three generations of addiction, trauma, and shame.

Now available in Spanish language for the first time! Featuring new material including excerpts from Desi Arnaz’s unpublished second memoir and a revealing epilogue by daughter Lucie Arnaz, here is the revised edition of the New York Times bestselling memoir of Cuban American entertainment...

Molly’s story is a memoir. It is an account of a first-generation immigrant who came from Eastern Europe through Paris to America. We see the world, lovingly and playfully through the eyes of an innocent child, and then more reflective as an older adult. Her story is intermingled with those of her aunts and uncles who remained in Paris, and witnessed the horrors of Nazi occupation during World War II.