In New going York, we meet the undocumented who were into theBlack federally funded Zero they’re mad, unable to talk about it,workers and estranged fromrecruited the Indigenous realities thatGround might make cleanup after Miami, we enterthe theeuphoria ubiquitous offer medicinal triumph herbs and to some sense of 9/11. it all.”In But also between andbotanicas, heartbreakwhich of love, professional andpotions personal those whose status of blocks them from Emezi any other healthcare options. In artificial, Flint, Michigan, we learn of demands for failure, the finality life and death. proves these oppositions while establishing the very real state ID in order to receive life-saving cleaninwater. Connecticut, Cornejo Villavicencio, childless by choice, solitude and weight of being uninterested them.InIncrementally, the chapters inch closer and closer to a finds familyreality. in two“There teenage whosebright fatherand is inbrilliant sanctuary. Andthey through alldoesn’t we see make the author grappling frightening is girls something in me,” write.it“It me feel special. with the biggest questions It makes me terribly alone.”of love, duty, family, and survival.
In her incandescent, relentlessly probing voice, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American.
“I don’t mind being an inspiration if it is for a valid reason, such as admiring how many slices of pizza I ate, an essay or an article I wrote, my clothing choices, or how quickly I can learn the lyrics to songs. As long as the inspiration doesn’t come with pity or self-congratulatory pats on the back, I am all for it. Let my love for cheesecake inspire you the way it will inspire a nation. you cantosaytell youthem were there first. “People canonedoday spectacular things At if least you forget it’s impossible.” ― Akwaeke - Keah Brown Emeki, Dear Senthuran: A black Spirit Memoir In addition to being an author, Keah Brown is a notable journalist, actress, and “The twisted inversion that many children of immigrants know is that, at some point, your parents
Akwaeke Emezi is ahas Nigerian writer and artist, publications best known screenwriter. Brown writtenlgbo for and and Tamil been featured in video established
become your children, and your ownandpersonal American becomes making sure for their 2018 debut novel Freshwater. Featured on Keah thedream cover of TIME including Essence, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue. Brown is alsoMagazine featured as in
a Next Generation Leader (June 2021) for debut memoir DEAR they ageBurke and die with dignity in a transformative country thattheir hasanthology never wanted them.” Tarana and Brené Brown’s You Are YourSENTHURAN, Best Thing. Akwaeke Emezi (b. 1987) is an artist and writer based in liminal spaces.
― Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, The Undocumented Americans
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (born 1989) is an Ecuadorian-American writer and the This, however, is just the beginning for Keah Brown. In 2022, she will publish her first children’s book, titled author of The Undocumented Americans (2020). She has written about her experiences as an undocumented Sam’s Super Seats. Illustrated by Sharee Miller, this upcoming book will follow a young girl with cerebral palsy A National Book Foundation '5 Under 35'States. honoree, Emezi was born in Umuahia andfor raised in Aba, Nigeria. They immigrant from Ecuador to the United In October 2020 it was shortlisted the National Book Award as she goes back to school shopping with her best friends. Though more information has yet to be released, were named one of The New Hollywood Guard: Writers by Vanity Fair and their romance debut YOU MADE A for Nonfiction. Keah Brown is also set to publish a book geared towards young adults in the next few years. Brown has big FOOL OF DEATH WITH YOUR BEAUTY is forthcoming from Atria Books in 2022, with the screen rights selling to dreams when it comes to television, many of which have already been accomplished, but for now, we should Amazon Studios a seven-figure deal with executive producer. debut poetry collection all take the time toinread extensive andEmezi wait toassee what next!Their Cornejo Villavicencio washer born in 1989works in Ecuador. When she wasshe fourdoes or five, her parents brought her to the CONTENT WARNING: EVERYTHING is also forthcoming Copper Press 2022 and sophomore United States. She has a brother. The family lived in from the New YorkCanyon borough of in Queens. Shetheir graduated from YA novel in BITTER willbelieves be published February 2022undocumented by Knopf Books. Harvard 2011 isand she is in one of the first immigrants to do so. As of September 2020 she is a PhD candidate in the American studies program at Yale. She was an Emerson Collective fellow.
