Immigration Narratives: Expansive Genres, Expansive Identities

Bay Area Book Festival Podcast

Faith Adiele, Bill Hing, Tessa Hulls, Lauren Markham, moderated by Tasneem Raja

Immigrant narratives span time, place, and genre to reach deeper universal truths. Four writers join in conversation to explore the many facets of immigrant narratives. Migration and immigration narratives are foundational to how we understand and celebrate culture, and these four panelists grapple with this central theme through various lenses—from Lauren Markham’s exploration of the criminalization of migration, to Tessa Hulls’ depiction of the immigrant experience through multiple generations of Chinese women, to Bill Hing’s analysis of the racial justice implications within the U.S. immigration system, to Faith Adiele’s personal reflections on identity and belonging as an immigrant. Moderated by Tasneem Raja (Berkeleyside), the conversation will venture into intergenerational trauma, social justice and adversity, and narrative form and genre-bending. This event highlights the deepest reflections on identity and belonging, and also celebrates the lasting meaning and social impact of representing immigrant experiences in literature.