“We the Interwoven is exactly the sort of antidote we need to the kind of othering that could lead to catastrophic future outcomes. It accomplishes the vital mission of humanizing issues that are all too often relegated to abstract or overly politicized realms.” —Melissa Studdard, author of I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast and host of VIDA Voices & Views

“We the Interwoven brings together different perspectives from marginalized communities whose voices we don’t often hear. It gives them a face and name and a voice. This work is significant and needed.” —Ingrid Bejerman, Programming Associate, Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival

WE THE INTERWOVEN, VOLUME 2 introduces seven new voices—three fellows and four honorable mentions, all with stories that explore the theme of living between two worlds.

Antonia Rivera crossed the Mexican-American border at the age of six, and her story spans three decades of the undocumented immigrant struggle. Dawson Davenport, a member of the Meskwaki Nation, shares a story of inherited Native trauma manifesting in the life of a young man coming of age. Ajla Dizdarević shares a Bosnian-American story of cultural tradition that survived a family’s migration. Hieu Pham explores Vietnamese-American filial debt, Rana Hewezi writes of an Egyptian mother’s gift to her daughter, Sarah Elgatian remembers her Armenian grandmother, and Anthony Mielke discovers his hidden Puerto Rican heritage.

How do we make our way in a society that looks nothing like the one our families once knew? How do we find a sense of belonging in a past and a place we’ve never been, or in a world that feels as if it’s changing faster than we are?

These seven stories take us on a ride through the heart and the moral conscience as they explore how we find identity and make a future in an America that is still deciding on its own.