A new 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. SOMEWHERE WE ARE HUMAN: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings (June 7, 2022; HarperVia; $27.99) provokes a sense of urgency, hope, and perseverance, taking readers on a journey through all kinds of experiences.

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.

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. Through their storytelling and art, the contributors 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.

Touching on themes of race, class, gender, nationality, sexuality, politics, and parenthood, SOMEWHERE WE ARE HUMAN reveals how joy, hope, perseverance, and dreams can take root in the toughest soil and bloom in the harshest conditions.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

For more information or to set up an interview with Reyna Grande and Sonia Guiñansaca, please contact:

Sarah Schoof, HarperCollins Publishers

sarah.schoof@harpercollins.com

HarperVia is a new imprint dedicated to publishing international voices, offering readers a chance to encounter other lives and other points of view Via the language of imagination. With publishing experts from around the globe guiding the program, our diverse inaugural list celebrates the universal desire for discovery, understanding, and connection through exceptional storytelling.

Additional Praise for SOMEWHERE WE ARE HUMAN

“This is a book that makes visible those who have been invisible for years to the rest of the world. A wonderful and un-precedented collection [that] allows the reader to conclude, unequivocally, that at the end we’re all human . . . the only difference is just a little piece of paper. Immigration is the new frontier in the struggle for human rights. If you really want to understand what it is to be an immigrant, to be forced to leave your home, and to arrive in a new country, you have to read this book."

—Jorge Ramos, journalist and news anchor with Univision

“This collection is not only a great read, but an important one. I applaud everyone involved.”

—Luis Alberto Urrea, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of The Devil’s Highway

“This essential and moving anthology serves to humanize the dehumanized. The people who walk through these pages not only survive, but flourish; not only cross borders, but demolish the concept of borders; not only break down stereotypes, but build bridges, whether of language or steel. Even the title itself presents a challenge: if somewhere we are human, then everywhere

we are human—even here, even now.”

—Martín Espada, National Book Award–winning poet of Floaters

“SOMEWHERE WE ARE HUMAN incites in me the kind of riot of heart and feeling and thinking that can only happen when many voices are sounding—all at once—part of the history of the world. Vital and radiant. It is a book so plural and shiftful that you cannot be the same after reading it.”

—Aracelis Girmay, award-winning poet of Teeth, The Black Maria, and Kingdom Animalia

“The only anthology edited by and featuring primarily writers who’ve been undocumented, this glorious collection speaks against the power of the state and what the state can’t see: the fullness of people who are so much more than their papers. A convening of voices from across the global south, these writers testify of the pain of family separation and the classed experience of migrant labor, also of organizing against ICE, prisons, and the DAPL pipeline, and also of queer love, the joy of clubbing, and the love we have for those who came before us. This is what solidarity looks like!”

—Ken Chen, award-winning poet of Juvenilia

“Every piece in SOMEWHERE WE ARE HUMAN is so full of heart and rigor, it makes this collection one of the most important additions to undocumented literature. The poetry, prose, and visual art in its pages forge an incandescent testament of what it means to migrate, survive, and start anew."

—Ingrid Rojas Contreras, author of The Man Who Could Move Clouds: A Memoir

“A mesmerizing immersion into the lives of the undocumented, SOMEWHERE WE ARE HUMAN is a bold, definitive departure from the common and inauthentic ‘study’ of disempowered populations as portrayed by others. This brilliant and inspiring volume challenges us to create a world where it is not a sin to be born in places we must escape in order to survive, nor to travel to

refuge in a place we are not welcomed.”

—Carmen Tafolla, State Poet Laureate of Texas and author of I’ll Always Come Back to You, Arte del Pueblo, and others

“Urgent, necessary, and bold, the voices in this trailblazing anthology show us that their experiences are unique, but unquestionably part of the larger American story. Kudos to Grande and Guiñansaca for amplifying this vibrant community of artists and writers! Their meticulous selections offer us an extraordinary range of histories, perspectives, and—most touchingly—dreams.”

—Rigoberto González, American Book Award–winning author of

Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa

“In this essential anthology, there lives both beauty and terror. So often these stories are told by others; now we get to hear them told by these artists themselves. What a gift as these vocal cords sing, ringing of human resilience and love, so much love."

—Victoria Chang, award-winning author of Obit and Dear Memory: Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief

“The voices telling these stories and the stories themselves have not always been embraced in publishing, which makes this book such a glorious gift to readers and

so necessary and vital for our times."

—Ligiah Villalobos, writer and executive producer of Under the Same Moon (La misma luna)