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Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose from the Undocumented Diaspora
Win a free print copy of this book!
22 days and 12:13:17
25 copies available
U.S. only
A lush tapestry of poetry created by undocumented and undocu-adjacent writers, Undocupoetics is an invitation to be a part of an integral component of contemporary American poetry.
“As a poet of African descent, I understand what it means to belong to two places at once. But I also understand what it means to be deserted by one as a result of the distance created by involuntary migration and displaced by one because of draconian laws. My sense of identity flows through my verse: through it I am coping, overcoming, surviving, and reaching joy. More than anything, poetry is an act of service for self-actualization and freedom.”—an anonymous undocumented contributor
From the indomitable writers and activists Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Janine Joseph, and Esther Lin comes an anthology gathering some of the best work from undocumented or undocu-adjacent writers from across the undocumented diaspora.
Here to Stay is a collection of 90 honest, heartfelt, searing, and evocative poems interspersed with short personal narratives, as culturally rich and diverse as the American quilt. Deeply intimate, these works explore what it means to exist in the liminal space between the familiar and the unknown, between past and future. Highlighting the significant talents of undocumented writers, this brilliant anthology challenges misconceptions of what it means to write and exist as an undocumented person in modern America.
Beautiful, poignant, and timely, this must-read collection is a rich and important new chapter in the ongoing story of the eclectic immigrant experience and the United States itself.
“As a poet of African descent, I understand what it means to belong to two places at once. But I also understand what it means to be deserted by one as a result of the distance created by involuntary migration and displaced by one because of draconian laws. My sense of identity flows through my verse: through it I am coping, overcoming, surviving, and reaching joy. More than anything, poetry is an act of service for self-actualization and freedom.”—an anonymous undocumented contributor
From the indomitable writers and activists Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Janine Joseph, and Esther Lin comes an anthology gathering some of the best work from undocumented or undocu-adjacent writers from across the undocumented diaspora.
Here to Stay is a collection of 90 honest, heartfelt, searing, and evocative poems interspersed with short personal narratives, as culturally rich and diverse as the American quilt. Deeply intimate, these works explore what it means to exist in the liminal space between the familiar and the unknown, between past and future. Highlighting the significant talents of undocumented writers, this brilliant anthology challenges misconceptions of what it means to write and exist as an undocumented person in modern America.
Beautiful, poignant, and timely, this must-read collection is a rich and important new chapter in the ongoing story of the eclectic immigrant experience and the United States itself.
- GenresPoetry
272 pages, Paperback
Expected publication September 3, 2024
About the author
Janine Joseph
6 books29 followersJANINE JOSEPH is a poet and librettist from the Philippines. She is the author of Decade of the Brain (Alice James Books, 2023) and Driving without a License (2016), winner of the Kundiman Poetry Prize. She is also co-editor of Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose from the Undocumented Diaspora (HarperCollins 2024), an anthology of poetry and statement of poetics. Her commissioned works for the Houston Grand Opera, Washington Master Chorale, and Symphony New Hampshire include "Extraordinary Motion: Concerto for Electric Harp," "The Art of Our Healers," "What Wings They Were," "'On This Muddy Water': Voices from the Houston Ship Channel," and "From My Mother’s Mother". A MacDowell Fellow, Janine is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Virginia Tech and a co-organizer for Undocupoets, a nonprofit literary organization that supports poets who are currently or who were formerly undocumented in the U.S.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 14, 2024
Thank you to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks via NetGalley for this ARC.
What a thought-provoking read. The prose and poetry through all of the artists, alongside the editors’ placing statements from each contributor about why they write to poetry opened my eyes to the many different forms living as an undocumented individual can take on a person. There was heartache, joy, and calls to radicalize against the colonial structures that harm all of us, and it is a read I highly recommend.
What a thought-provoking read. The prose and poetry through all of the artists, alongside the editors’ placing statements from each contributor about why they write to poetry opened my eyes to the many different forms living as an undocumented individual can take on a person. There was heartache, joy, and calls to radicalize against the colonial structures that harm all of us, and it is a read I highly recommend.
Displaying 1 of 1 review