Like my previous anthology Rotten English, this one began as a course at St. John’s University, where I remain grateful for the congenial atmosphere, supportive colleagues, open-minded students, and the freedom to design and teach unconventional courses. Students in two successive iterations of Comparative Migration Literature enthusiastically and helpfully advised me on many of the selections included here. I received invaluable text suggestions from many people, including Akelah Adams, Sonia Adams, Tanya Agathocleous, Eliya Ahmad, Melina Ahmad, Kaveh Akbar, Syed Ali, Baher Azmi, Yasmin Badin, Tabitha Benitez, Holly-Rose Boruta, Tuli Chatterji, Cora Diamond, Julie Diamond, J. Daniel Elam, Josh Fellman, Inderpal Grewel, Nadia Guessous, Orin Herskowitz, Anjuli Raza Kolb, Shondel Nero, Kristina Olsen, Lisa Outar, Marisa Parham, Supriya Pillai, Laila Shikaki, Abby Sider, Brandin Stone, Robin Varghese, and Wendy Walters. Julie Diamond and Orin Herskowitz provided general support: emotional, intellectual, and logistical. Sophie Bell and Orin Herskowitz gave thoughtful and encouraging feedback on the introduction. It was a delight to work with Elda Rotor, a visionary editor who has changed the public understanding of “classic.” Tanya Agathocleous introduced me to Elda and championed the idea for the anthology. Finally, I’m extraordinarily grateful to Edwidge Danticat for her beautiful and moving foreword.
The following constitutes an extension of the copyright page.
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to use the following works:
Mena Abdullah, “The Time of the Peacock” from Time of the Peacock: Stories (New York: Ray Publishers, 1965 and Sydney: ETT Imprint, 1992). Reprinted with permission of ETT Imprint.
Sefi Atta, “Green” from News from Home (Northampton, Mass.: Interlink Publishing Group, 2010). Originally from www.storysouth.com (Spring 2004). Reprinted with the permission of Sefi Atta and Interlink Books, an imprint of Interlink Publishing, Inc.
Shauna Singh Baldwin, “Montreal 1962” from English Lessons and Other Stories, copyright © 1996, 1999, 2008 by Shauna Singh Baldwin. Reprinted by permission of Goose Lane Editions.
E. R. Braithwaite, excerpt from To Sir, With Love, copyright © 1959, renewed 1987 by E. R. Braithwaite. Used by permission of Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, and David Higham Associates, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Joseph Bruchac, “Ellis Island.” Reprinted with the permission of Joseph Bruchac.
Mehdi Charef, excerpt from Tea in the Harem, translated by Ed Emery. Reprinted with the permission of Serpent’s Tail Ltd.
David Dabydeen, “Coolie Mother” and “Coolie Son (The Toilet Attendant Writes Home)” from Coolie Odyssey (Hansib Publishing, 1988). Reprinted with the permission of the author.
Edwidge Danticat, “Children of the Sea” from Krik? Krak!, copyright © 1991, 1995 by Edwidge Danticat. Reprinted by permission of Soho Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
Safia Elhillo, “origin stories (reprise)” from www.splitthisrock.com, August 2016. Reprinted with the permission of Safia Elhillo.
Mohsin Hamid, excerpt from How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, pp. 4–15. Copyright © 2013 by Mohsin Hamid. Used by permission of Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin Books, a division of Penguin Random House Ltd., and Riverhead, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Eva Hoffman, excerpt from Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language, copyright © 1989 by Eva Hoffman. Used by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of Eva Hoffman and Dutton, an imprint of the Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Djamila Ibrahim, “Heading Somewhere” from Things Are Good Now, copyright © 2018 by Djamila Ibrahim. Reprinted with the permission of House of Anansi Press, Toronto, www.houseofanansi.com.
Francisco Jiménez, “Under the Wire” from The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child, copyright © 1997 by Francisco Jiménez. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd., and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Pauline Kaldas, “A Conversation” from The Time Between Places: Stories That Weave in and out of Egypt and America. Originally in Banipal: Magazine of Modern Arab Literature 38 (2010), copyright © 2010 by The University of Arkansas. Reprinted with the permission of The University of Arkansas Press, www.uapress.com.
Hanif Kureishi, “My Son the Fanatic,” originally published in The New Yorker and currently collected in Love in a Blue Time, copyright © 1994, 1997 by Hanif Kureishi. Reprinted with the permission of The Wylie Agency LLC.
Tato Laviera, “AmeRícan” from Bendición: The Complete Poetry of Tato Laviera, copyright © 2014 by The Estate of Tato Laviera. Reprinted by permission of Arte Público Press.
Marina Lewycka, excerpt from Strawberry Fields: A Novel, copyright © 2007 by Marina Lewycka. Used by permission of Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, and A. M. Heath & Company, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Dinaw Mengestu, “An Honest Exit,” first serial adaptation from The New Yorker, July 12, 2010; later from How to Read the Air, copyright © 2010 by Dinaw Mengestu. Used by permission of Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, and Janklow & Nesbitt Associates. All rights reserved.
Dunya Mikhail, “Another Planet” from The Iraqi Nights translated by Kareem James Abu-Zeid, copyright © 2013 by Dunya Mikhail, translation copyright © 2014 by Kareem James Abu-Zeid. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
Shani Mootoo, “Out on Main Street” from Out on Main Street and Other Stories (Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 1993). Reprinted with the permission of Shani Mootoo.
Julie Otsuka, “Come, Japanese!” from The Buddha in the Attic. Copyright © 2011 by Julie Otsuka, Inc. Used by permission of Fig Tree, an imprint of Penguin General, a division of Penguin Random House Ltd., and Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Emine Sevgi Özdamar, excerpt from The Bridge of the Golden Horn, translated by Martin Chalmers, translation copyright © 2007 by Martin Chalmers. Reprinted with the permission of Serpent’s Tail Ltd.
M. NourbeSe Philip, “Zong! #5” from Zong!, as told to the author by Setaey Adamu Boateng (Toronto; The Mercury Press, 2008). Reprinted with the permission of the author.
Paulette Ramsay, excerpt from Aunt Jen. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission of Pearson Business.
Salman Rushdie, “Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies” from East, West: A Novel (London: Jonathan Cape, 1994 and New York: Pantheon, 1995), copyright © 1994 by Salman Rushdie. Used by permission of The Random House Group Limited and Pantheon Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Marjane Satrapi, excerpt from Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return translated by Anjali Singh (London: Jonathan Cape and New York: Pantheon, 2004), translation copyright © 2004 by Anjali Singh. Used by permission of The Random House Group Limited and Pantheon Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Sam Selvon, “Come Back to Grenada” from Foreday Morning: Selected Prose, 1946–1986. Originally published in London Magazine 3, no. 9 (1956). Reprinted with the permission of The Estate of Sam Selvon.
Warsan Shire, “Conversations About Home (at the Deportation Centre),” copyright © 2011. Reprinted by permission of Warsan Shire and flipped eye publishing limited.
Zadie Smith, excerpt from White Teeth, copyright © 2000 by Zadie Smith. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC and Penguin Books Ltd. All rights reserved.
Deepak Unnikrishnan, “Pravasis,” “Pravasis?,” and “Nalinakshi” from Temporary People, copyright © 2017 by Deepak Unnikrishnan. Reprinted with the permission of Restless Books, www.restlessbooks.com.