Big changes are coming this fall, with the U.S. presidential election casting a particularly long shadow over just about everything, including the book world.
Several new titles from Bay Area authors in the coming months will grapple head-on with political topics, none more so than “Here to Stay,” a poetry anthology compiled by the organizers of the Undocupoets project. Northern California poet Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, previous Stanford University Stegner fellow Esther Lin and Virginia Tech professor Janine Joseph assemble the exceptional work of 53 poets who are currently and formerly undocumented immigrants in the United States.
“‘Here to Stay’ seeks to challenge misconceptions of what it means to write as an undocumented person in 21st-century America and to offer a vision of the possibilities of our art,” reads the book’s introduction.
Notably, the anthology’s editors organize the book alphabetically by each poets’ surname, rather than grouping contributors by immigration status or their relationship to a particular nation. Contributors, several of whom have lived in Northern California, preface their own poems with brief prose that illuminates their work and perspective on immigration.
“In the fight for immigrant rights, the people who I have lost the most have been us, the undocumented,” writes Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Yosimar Reyes in the foreword to his trio of poems. “We cannot let this country take away our ability to smile.”
Wistful hopes and dreams feature prominently in Reyes’ poems, like “Undocumented Joy,” which declares to the reader, “I wish you would ask about the memories / I had before my identity became political / about the laughs / the joy / the things I love / about the way I have managed to survive”
Other poems in the collection take on tones that range from rage to grief to relief, a spectrum that San Francisco author Ingrid Rojas Contreras praises in a blurb for the book.
“The poems in this anthology howl, perspire, fall in love, reimagine myth, lose language, find language, have faith in poetry, disbelieve in poetry, repurpose the brutal language of ICE spreadsheets, turn to consider the border, turn away and consider everything but the border,” she writes.
By presenting such multitudes to its readers, “Here to Stay” makes for a perfect collection for readers to dip in and out of and deepen their understanding of this complex issue.
Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose From the Undocumented Diaspora
Edited by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Janine Joseph, Esther Lin
(Harper Perennial; 272 pages; $18.99)
9 other books to read this fall
Alongside fantastical fiction, strong nonfiction titles range from memoirs to psychology-based self help and a vital addition to the field of Asian American studies. The region’s poets also shine with new volumes of verse on hope, disillusions and grief over shifting landscapes.
No matter what this autumn brings, these books offer readers comfort, escape, empowerment and new insight on what it means to be human.
Post-Apocalyptic Valentine: Poems
By Linda Watanabe McFerrin
(7.13 Books; 112 pages; $19.99)
Oakland author Linda Watanabe McFerrin, a versatile veteran of the writing world, reflects her enduring love for life despite a changing climate and society in this soulful poetry collection. Released Tuesday, Sept. 3.
They Call You Back: A Lost History, A Search, A Memoir
By Tim Z. Hernandez
(The University of Arizona Press; 272 pages, $30)
In this unusual, haunting memoir, Tim Z. Hernandez, who was raised in the San Joaquin Valley, revisits his book on the 1948 Los Gatos Canyon plane crash that killed mostly Mexican farmworkers mid-deportation, showing how some stories follow their tellers for a lifetime. Releases Sept. 17.
I Love Hearing Your Dreams: Poems
By Matthew Zapruder
(Scribner; 126 pages; $26)
A professor at St. Mary’s College of California, Matthew Zapruder’s new poetry collection conjures sleepless nights and wistful memories in artful verse that reflects the human need for connection. Releases Sept. 24.
Djinnology: An Illuminated Compendium of Spirits and Stories From the Muslim World
By Seema Yasmin, illustrated by Fahmida Azim
(Chronicle; 248 pages; $35)
Written by local author Seema Yasmin and illustrated by Pulitzer Prize winner Fahmida Azim, this exquisite, full-color volume of ghost stories takes the form of a found manuscript by a fictional scientist, Dr. N, who has gone missing while researching the mysterious creatures of Muslim lore known as djinn. Releases Oct. 1.
Louder Than the Lies: Asian American Identity, Solidarity, and Self-Love
By Ellie Yang Camp
(Heyday; 272 pages; $28)
Approachable and inviting, Bay Area artist and educator Ellie Yang Camp makes her debut by unpacking the complexities of what it means to be Asian American and, importantly, why self-love matters. Releases Oct. 22.
No One Gets to Fall Apart: A Memoir
By Sarah LaBrie
(Harper; 224 pages; $27.99)
Oakland-raised TV writer and librettist Sarah LaBrie’s debut memoir opens with the heartbreak and shock of hearing of her mother’s schizophrenic break, then traces her family’s long history of mental illness as she writes toward a hopeful future. Releases Oct. 22.
How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days
By Kari Leibowitz, PhD
(Penguin Life; 304 pages; $29)
After a stint in the Arctic city of Tromsø, Norway, psychologist Kari Leibowitz made her way to Stanford University’s Mind & Body Lab to understand people’s common aversion to winter and show how a shift in seasonal mindset can affect how we can weather other dark, difficult periods of life. Releases Oct. 22.
The Teller of Small Fortunes
By Julie Leong
(Ace; 336 pages; $19)
An ultimate comfort read, this debut fantasy novel by San Francisco author Julie Leong follows an immigrant fortune teller who travels between charming villages, proving that adult readers are never too old for a good fairy tale. Releases Nov. 5.
I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying: A Memoir
By Youngmi Mayer
(Little Brown & Co. 259 pages; $29)
San Francisco was Youngmi Mayer’s introduction to America after being raised in Asia by her Korean mom, an experience that the stand-up comedian renders through her inimitable voice in her hilarious, unapologetic memoir. Releases Nov. 12.
Hannah Bae is a freelance writer.