In partnership with Books A Magic, we are happy to invite for an exceptional and unique event with Sonia Guiñansaca and contributors Danyeli Rodriguez del Orbe, Emilia Fiallo, Jesús I. Valles, and T. Lê.
In the overheated debate about immigration, we often lose sight of the humanity at the heart of this complex issue. The immigrants and refugees living precariously in the United States are mothers and fathers, children, neighbors, and friends. Individuals propelled by hope and fear, they gamble their lives on the promise of America, yet their voices are rarely heard.
This anthology of essays, poetry, and art seeks to shift the immigration debate—now shaped by rancorous stereotypes and xenophobia—towards one rooted in humanity and justice. Through their storytelling and art, the contributors to this thought-provoking book remind us that they are human still. Transcending their current immigration status, they offer nuanced portraits of their existence before and after migration, the factors behind their choices, the pain of leaving their homeland and beginning anew in a strange country, and their collective hunger for a future not defined by borders.
Created entirely by undocumented or formerly undocumented migrants, Somewhere We Are Human is a journey of memory and yearning from people newly arrived to America, those who have been here for decades, and those who have ultimately chosen to leave or were deported. Touching on themes of race, class, gender, nationality, sexuality, politics, and parenthood, Somewhere We Are Human reveals how joy, hope, mourning, and perseverance can take root in the toughest soil and bloom in the harshest conditions.
Sonia Guiñansaca is an international multidisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and activist. They write narrative poems and essays on migration, queerness, climate change, and nostalgia, often collaborating with filmmakers and visual artists. They are Kichwa-Kañari, and at the age of five they migrated from Ecuador to the US to reunite with their parents in New York City. In 2007, Guiñansaca came out publicly as undocumented and emerged as a national leader in the migrant, artistic, and political communities where they coordinated and participated in groundbreaking civil disobedience actions. Guiñansaca helped build some of the largest undocumented organizations in the US, including cofounding some of the first artistic projects by and for undocumented writers and artists (Dreaming in Ink writing workshops; UndocuMic, a performance space; and the 2013 UndocuWriting Retreat). They have been awarded residencies and fellowships from Voices of Our Nation (VONA), the Poetry Foundation, the British Council, Creative Time, and the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Guiñansaca has been featured by PEN America, Interview magazine, Ms. magazine, DIVA magazine UK, NBC, and PBS and was named one of 13 Coolest Queers on the Internet by Teen Vogue. They self-published their debut chapbook Nostalgia and Borders in 2016. They are a contributor to the new edition of the anthology Colonize This! (Seal Press, 2019) and This Is Not a Gun (Sming Sming Books/Candor Arts, 2020). Guiñansaca is launching House of Alegria, a publishing house for queer, trans, nonbinary, and migrant undocumented writers.
Danyeli Rodriguez Del Orbe is a Dominican, Bronx-raised community organizer, writer, and spoken word performer. Her work raises awareness around issues of race, gender, and migration. She has been featured by the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the San Francisco Museum of the African Diaspora, People en Español magazine, and others. In December 2019, she self-published her first collection of poetry, periódicos de ayer, a lover’s archive. Danyeli is also the cofounder and cohost of Loose Accents, a Latinx podcast that highlights the immigrant experiences of the East and West coasts. In addition to performing, Danyeli has been an avid advocate for immigrant rights, receiving the New York State Dream Activist Award and being a recipient of an Immigrant Justice Corps Justice Fellowship and a New York Immigration Coalition DREAM Fellowship.
Emilia Fiallo is an English language arts high school teacher and continues to support undocumented students and immigrant families across NYC public schools. David and Emilia are celebrating three years of marriage. They are in the process of adopting a dog. She has not seen her parents since COVID hit but occasionally visits her sister in Brooklyn.
Jesús I. Valles is a queer Mexican immigrant, educator, storyteller, and performer based in Austin, Texas, originally from Cd. Juarez, México. Jesús holds a master’s degree in communication studies from California State University, Long Beach, with a focus on performance and qualitative research methods. Jesús is a recipient of the 2018 Undocupoets Fellowship, a 2018 Poetry Incubator fellow of the Poetry Foundation and Crescendo Literary, runner-up in the 2017 Button Poetry chapbook contest, and a finalist of the 2016 Write Bloody Publishing poetry contest. Their work has been published in the Shade Journal, The Texas Review, and The New Republic.
T. Lê is a Vietnamese American artist. She immigrated to the US in the early 1990s with her ba, Sinh, her me., Vân, and her em gái, Thao. She has a fondness for words, both in poetry and in acting. She loves all work by Mary Oliver. On occasion, she’ll bask in a cup of bad coffee. Currently, she is working on her first poetry collection.