Recent literary works about the immigrant experience.

America is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo. This 2018 novel features the lives of both documented and undocumented Filipinos, tracing their histories not just through the US but the political turmoil in the Philippines that brought them to the US.

American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood by Marie Arana. Marie Arana was born to an American “lone-wolf” mother and her Peruvian aristocrat father. While the immigrant experience is often discussed in terms of family and external influences, Arana discussed cultural divides within her own home in this work from 2001.

American Street by Ibi Zoboi. In this YA novel published in 2017, Fabiola and her mother are moving to the US from Haiti. Her mother is detained, however, leaving Fabiola to navigate her new country alone.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Ifemulu and Obinze meet in Nigeria and fall in love, but then move to different countries. When they meet again, how will their immigrant experiences have changed them? This book won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.

Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi. In this young adult memoir (released in 2018), Saedi discovers what it was like finding out that she was an undocumented immigrant as a teenager. Her typical adolescent struggles are clouded with fear of deportation.

The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Óscar Martínez. Each year, huge numbers of boys try and make their way from different countries in Central and South America into the US, often following their mothers. Martinez chronicles the danger of their journeys in this work from 2013.

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu. An Ethiopian immigrant in a Washington, D.C. neighborhood slowly builds a friendship with a white woman and her book-loving daughter in this award-winning story published in 2007.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri. Nuri and his wife Afra have a happy life in Aleppo, in Lefteri’s 2019 novel, but that life is upended by conflicts in Syria, and they are forced to flee Aleppo. Although the work does not focus specifically on US immigrants, it reveals the struggles of Syrian refugees everywhere.

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue. An immigrant family from Cameroon tries to survive in America, but the onset of the Great Recession complicates the process of staying in their new country. The author won the 2017 PEN/Faulkner Award for this novel.

The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui. This 2017 graphic novel begins with the birth of Bui’s son and uses the process of motherhood to understand her parents’ life in and fleeing from Vietnam. The work is based closely on real-life events in the author’s life.

The Book of Rosy: A Mother’s Story of Separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwietert Collazo. Rosy is forced to leave Guatemala for the US with her two sons, leaving her daughters behind. At the border, they are captured and separated. Cruz’s memoir, published in 2020, paints a vivid picture of the border detention centers.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. This book delves into the awkwardness of not belonging, of not knowing how to be who you need to be, and shows that the immigration experience is just one part of a complicated life. Set in New Jersey, the book chronicles the life of an overweight Dominican boy but also draws on science fiction and fantasy to get at the boy’s experience. Published in 2007, the novel one the Book Critics Circle Award that year and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize along with other awards.

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. After World War I, huge number of “picture brides” came to the US from Japan to marry men they had never met. Otsuka’s tour-de-force novel, released in 2011, tells their story, including their “disappearances” into the Japanese internment camps.

Call Me American: A Memoir by Abdi Nor Iftin. Iftin’s reporting on Somalia gained him international attention but made his homeland so dangerous for him that he was forced to flee. His memoir, published in 2018, chronicles the difficulties of being an adult asylum seeker and making a new life in America.

The Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea. Urrea’s Pulitzer Prize finalist book from 2004 tells of a group of men who decided to cross into the US via what is considered the deadliest path, called the Devil’s Highway, which leads directly into the Arizona desert.

The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande. This 2012 memoir tells about Grande’s parents making the choice to cross the border into the US, and to eventually bring their children with them. The memoir shifts from harrowing to hilarious and back again.

Dragonfish by Vu Tran. This 2015 thriller novel from established short story writer Tran traces a character’s history from Vietnam to refugee camps in Malaysia to a life in the darkest parts of the American crime industries.

Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia. In this 1992 novel by a former journalist, the story of three generations of Cuban women and their varying responses to the 1950s Cuban revolution is presented. The book draws on magical realism, political idealism, and the hard facts of corruption in telling its tale. The book remains a classic of the genre.

Drifting House by Krys Lee. This 2012 debut collection of short stories about Korean Americans frequently features the concept of crossing borders, whether real or imagined, and the struggles of those navigating between the familial past and the upsets of the present.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. In this novel, Nadia and Saeed meet in an unnamed country which is teetering on the brink of war. They are pushed together by the terrifying conditions in their country. With a dose of fantasy, they find magical doors that can lead them to other, more magical homes, and begin to step through. This award-winning book first came out in 2017.

Eye Level by Jenny Xie. Xie’s award-winning poetry debut, from 2018, offers a haunting look at a world of experiences, from immigration to travel to departures. Her poems explore Phnom Phen, Corfu, Haiti, New York, and many more locations.

The Free Life by Ha Jin. This 2007 novel by award-winning author Ha Jin concerns a Chinese family in America seeking to sever their ties with the home country after the Tiananmen Square events of 1989. The book made several “Best Books of the Year” lists and was followed by a 2009 story collection, A Good Fall, which delves further into the experience of Chinese immigrants in America.

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok. This semi-autobiographical novel is about Kimberly Chang, who came to the US with her mother at age 11. Now, she is a brilliant student by day but a sweatshop worker by night, trying to find a better future. Kwok’s 2010 novel became an instant bestseller.

The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil. Wamariya was six years old during the Rwandan genocide. After six years in refugee camps, Wamariya and her sister were granted asylum. She tells of how she reclaimed a sense of her whole self in this work from 2018.

The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America edited by Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman. This 2019 nonfiction work brings together a series of essays from writers with a wide variety of experiences discussing the realities of immigration as they have faced them.

Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan. Yang Ryan’s novel (published 2016) begins in 1947 as Taiwan is rocked by an uprising and a father is taken from his infant daughter by Chinese nationals. Years later, his daughter, now in the US, is forced to make a similar choice: what is right, and what will save her family?

Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh. Ghosh was born in Calcutta and grew up in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka before coming to New York. His 2019 novel engages with displacement and transition while also telling a story about a man who never quite loses his faith in the world.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Based partly on Cisneros’ own youth in Chicago, this novel (published 1984) uses the experiences of a 12-year old Chicana raised in the Hispanic quarter of the city to explore Mexican-American culture and themes relating to class, race, ethnic identity, gender, and sexuality. Mango Street became both a critical and a popular success, winning (among other honors) the American Book Award.

In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero with Michelle Burford. When Guerrero was 14 years old, she came home from school to find that her parents had been deported. Her memoir, published in 2016, chronicles the fears and trauma faced by the children of undocumented immigrants.

Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience edited by Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond. A collection of poetry published in 2019 and featuring refugees and immigrants from many different backgrounds, both first- and second-generation.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. This best-selling fictional account of four Chinese-born mothers and their American-born daughters living in San Francisco attained classic status shortly after its publication in 1989. The main story is set in the 1980s, but the historical vignettes related by the mothers take place in earlier decades in China. The work was well received by critics and readers alike and gained further renown when it was turned into a popular movie in 1993.

Learning to Die in Miami by Carlos Eire. As part of Operation Peter Pan, Carlos Eire and his brother entered Miami in 1962. This memoir, from 2011, focuses on how assimilation requires part of an immigrant to vanish in order to find acceptance. The work is a continuation of Eire’s 2003 National Book Award-winning memoir Waiting for Snow.

Lena Finkle’s Magic Barrell by Anya Ulinich. This 2014 graphic novel from the Russian American author/illustrator Anya Ulinich takes up the issues of love, relationships, and immigration. Her work addresses both the immigrant experience and the experience of going home.

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos. This novel (published in 1989) won its author the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 1990 and also became the basis of a 1992 motion picture and a 2005 musical. The story concerns pre-Castro Cubans who, after World War II, streamed to New York. Cuban music played by the Mambo Kings in a seedy nightclub form the center of the narrative.

The Mango Bride by Marivi Soliven. Amaro is forced to leave her native Manila and begins rebuilding her life in Oakland, California. Her new life is complicated by Beverly, a mail order bride from Manila whose life has turned violent. This notable work of domestic fiction was first published in 2013.

Microchips for Millions by Janice Lobo Sapigao. Sapiago’s 2016 poetry collection frequently addresses the exploitations of Americans from the Philippines, including her own family, in Silicon Valley.

Native Speaker by Chang-ree Lee. While many books about immigrants focus on the harrowing experience of immigration and asylum, Lee discusses the longer-term effects of leaving a country and culture behind, both on a single person and on generations of family. This award-winning book came out in 1995.

The New American Farmer: Immigration, Race, and the Struggle for Sustainability by Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern. Many Americans know that migrant workers are a huge part of American agriculture, but fewer know that a huge portion of the newer farmers in the US are immigrants. Minkoff-Zern’s book (published 2019) chronicles the struggles they face caused by racism and the farming system itself.

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong. The Vietnamese American poet’s 2016 debut collection creates a stunning interconnected image of the experience of standing on the edges of self, family, country. It won the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2017.

No Friend But the Mountains: Writing From Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani. While Boochani’s experience of detention occurred in Australia, his writing, tapped into his phone while he was kept in a prison by the Australian government, shares a universally poignant story about the cruelty faced by immigrants held in captivity without recourse. This 2018 book is planned to be adapted as a feature film.

Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America by Maria Hinojosa. A noted journalist, Hinojosa’s memoir delves into her experiences both as an immigrant and reporting on traumatic events throughout her career. This 2020 book appeared on numerous “Best Books” lists that year.

Open City by Teju Cole. A young Nigerian doctor wanders the streets of Manhattan, reflecting on the events of his past, and meeting those from various cultures and classes who provide insight on his life experiences. This 2011 novel was included on several end-of-year lists of best books that year.

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami. Starting with the murder of a Moroccan man, this novel tells its story from multiple points of view. Both a murder mystery and the saga of a family, Lalami easily engages with the fault lines facing American society. This multiple award-winning book came out in 2019.

The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen. A series of stories told in both Vietnam and the US and taking place over two decades, The Refugees (published 2017) addresses how migration creates dual identities. It follows the author’s Pulitzer Prize Winning novel The Sympathizer, from 2015.

Separated: Inside an American Tragedy by Jacob Soboroff. Award-winning news correspondent Soboroff was among the first journalists to expose the systematic separation of children from their families at the border, a policy enacted by the Trump administration in 2018. He reports, in this 2020 book, on the policy, its effects, and focuses on specific families to show the damage wrought by the inhumanity at the southern border of the US.

Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran. Tran’s parents fled Vietnam slightly before the fall of Saigon. His humorous memoir, published in 2020, discusses growing up and fitting in neither with American kids or his Vietnamese family.

Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang. Zhang’s debut short story collection, from 2017, focuses on different struggles faced by Chinese-American girls who left behind dark pasts in order to make lives in a new world that seems just as dangerous. This book is planned to be made into a movie.

That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim. Muslim American protagonists are few and far between in Young Adult literature, making Karim’s contribution, combining Radiohead and hijab, the history of Partition and private high school in New Jersey, into an intensely passionate novel (published 2017).

This Land Is Our Land by Suketu Mehta. Mehta discusses the anti-immigration sentiment growing around the world, both as an India-born teenager who grew up in New York City and as a reporter who has worked both in the US and abroad. This 2019 book has been lauded by activists, writers, and academics alike as a kind of “manifesto” for changing the narrative around immigration.

This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman by Ilhan Omar. When Ilhan Omar was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018, she became the first refugee and the first Somali American elected to Congress. Her 2020 memoir tells of her refugee experience and her political campaigns.

Time You Let Me In poems selected by Naomi Shibab Nye. In this anthology of 25 poems all written by people under 25 years old, poets are irreverent, experimental, spiritual, and often focusing on their experience as immigrants to the US. First published in 2010.

Unaccompanied by Javier Zamora. A collection of poems (published 2017) by an award-winning author reflecting on his experience of crossing the US border alone at 9 years old to meet his parents.

The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri. Many people believe that a refugee’s trauma is immediately stopped when they enter the US; Nayeri shatters that stereotype through her own experiences and conversations with other refugees as captured in this notable book published in 2019.

We Are Here to Stay by Susan Kuklin. Targeted towards young adults but important for readers of all ages, Kuklin’s 2019 book shares stories from nine young people who have lived in the US as undocumented immigrants for most of their lives.

When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago. In this memoir (published 1993), the author recounts her childhood in Puerto Rico and the effects of American programs in the 1950s and 1960s that changed the island’s economy. Her narrative describes the displacement of rural Puerto Ricans to San Juan and their eventual migration to the mainland US. A subsequent work, Almost a Woman (1998), continues the story and brought further honors to its author.

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston. Kingston’s book is part memoir, part fiction, part myth; it contrasts her upbringing in California with Chinese mythology and dives into different cultural methods of presenting the feminine. First published in 1976, it has become an enduring classic of the genre.