About the Author

Tea Rozman, PhD is the founding Executive Director of Green Card Voices. Previously, she has worked for Reconciliation and Culture Cooperative Network, a New York City non-profit working with immigrants from the Former Yugoslavia. She is an NYU graduate in Near and Middle Eastern Studies and has a PhD in Cultural History, specializing in oral history from the University of Nova Gorica. She is a first-generation immigrant from Slovenia and 2015 Bush Leadership Fellow. Julie Vang is a spiritual writer and co-editor of Our Stories Carried Us Here. She graduated from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities with a Bachelors in Family Social Science and a minor in Asian American Studies. She is Hmong-American with over six years of policy and programming experience. Tom Kaczynski learned to read English by looking at American capitalist comics in communist Poland. He moved to the U.S. in 1987. His comics have appeared in Best American Non-Required Reading, MOME, and many other publications throughout the years, and were nominated for an Ignatz Award in 2011. Kaczynski is the founder of the independent publishing house, Uncivilized Books. Nate Powell (b. 1978, Little Rock, Arkansas) is the first cartoonist ever to win the National Book Award. He began self-publishing at age 14, and graduated from School of Visual Arts in 2000. His work includes forthcoming graphic memoir/essay Save It For Later, Eisner-nominated Ozark horror tale Come Again, civil rights icon John Lewis' legendary March trilogy, comics essay About Face, Two Dead, You Don't Say, Any Empire, Swallow Me Whole, The Silence Of Our Friends, The Year Of The Beasts, and Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero. Powell’s work has also received a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, three Eisner Awards, two Ignatz Awards, CXC’s Transformative Work Award, the Michael L. Printz Award, a Coretta Scott King Author Award, four YALSA Great Graphic Novels For Teens selections, the Walter Dean Myers Award, and is a two-time finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Powell has discussed his work at the United Nations, as well as on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, CNN, and Free Speech TV. His books have been placed on school curriculum in over 40 states, and his animated artwork in the Southern Poverty Law Center's Selma: The Bridge To The Ballot has reached over a million students in 50,000 schools across the nation. From 1999 to 2009, Powell worked full-time providing support for adults with developmental disabilities alongside his cartooning efforts. He managed underground record label Harlan Records for 16 years, and performed in punk bands Soophie Nun Squad and Universe. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana. Thi Bui was born in Vietnam and came to the United States in 1978 as part of the "boat people" wave of refugees fleeing Southeast Asia at the end of the Vietnam War. Her debut graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do (Abrams ComicArts, 2017) has been selected for an American Book Award, a Common Book for UCLA and other colleges and universities, an all-city read by Seattle and San Francisco public libraries, a National Book Critics Circle finalist in autobiography, and an Eisner Award finalist in reality-based comics. It made over thirty best of 2017 book lists, including Bill Gates' top five picks. She illustrated the picture book, A Different Pond, written by the poet Bao Phi (Capstone, 2017), for which she won a Caldecott Honor. With her son, Hien, she co-illustrated the children’s book, Chicken of the Sea (McSweeney’s, 2019), written by Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen and his son, Ellison. Her short comics can be found online at The Nib, PEN America, and BOOM California. She is currently researching and drawing a work of graphic nonfiction about immigrant detention and deportation, to be published by One World, Random House. Ashraf El-Attar is an illustrator from Egypt. He currently resides in Washington DC. He earned his MFA in Illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). El-Attar was awarded a full scholarship from the Ford Foundation Fellowship to study illustration in the United States in 2008. As an undergraduate, he studied oil painting at Helwan University. In 2002, El-Attar participated in a workshop with the French comic artist Golo. Each artist created two pages of a comic as a modernization of the Sayf ibn Dhī-Yazan character. This book was translated into Arabic, English, and French, and sold in Europe. El Attar’s work has been printed in several publications, like the Al-Ahram newspaper in Egypt, where he has created social and political cartoons weekly for five years, as well as Bay State Parents magazine in Boston. He has also illustrated several children's books in the U.S and the Middle East. Attar's passion is to create characters with different facial expressions. People on the street are his main source of inspiration, and ink and pencil are his preferred tools. He believes that the best way to communicate with children is to think like them and to produce illustrations that enrich their imagination. Attar is interested in showing Middle Eastern superheroes like Sindbad or Abu Zayd al-Hilali in a modern way to make them more attractive and to introduce Arabic heritage to the west in an appealing style. He believes that by bringing these characters back to life again, a bridge can be created between cultures. Camilo is a Colombian fine artist and cartoonist. He uses drawing as a series of strategies to make visible personal, social and political issues. In his comics, he uses the elements of the documentary format to tell non-fictional stories, implementing anecdotes and interviews. In all of his illustrations, he likes to find relationships between elements in order to make messages intimate and empathizing. Cor Lin is a midwest-based Japanese//Taiwanese-American illustrator and designer specializing in portraiture, watercolor, food illustration, and culture-centered storytelling. By visualizing narratives and illuminating concepts, I make art that fuels action. My editorial work has been published in the LA Times, Eater Chicago, WBEZ Curious City Chicago, and Twin Cities Daily Planet. Gérard Nyunai Ngan is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Yaoundé I. His research focuses on artistic creation as a tool for urban planning. Gérard is a Cameroonian curator, Founder and promoter of Pousse-pions, the only international festival of board games in sub-Saharan Africa. Gérard is also a photographer and cartoonist. Hamid Ibrahim is a CG director and co-founder of Kugali, an arts and animation company that showcases the best African stories using comics, art and animation. He has worked on several Hollywood blockbusters such as The Predator, or Disney’s: Dumbo and The Lion King. His current project is the development of an augmented reality app where the characters and the worlds come to life, as well as, an AR events app that allows us to explore new ways of entertaining people. Mike Centeno is a Venezuelan cartoonist who has been living in the U.S. for almost 10 years. His work has been featured in The Chicago Reader, DigBoston, The Nib, Southside Weekly and he self-publishes his own comics series titled Futile Comics. His stories focus on identity, immigration and the rise of global populism and authoritarianism which he explores through fiction. sunshine gao was born in China and raised in Indiana and Kentucky. Once, they studied moral philosophy and ecology; cooked noodles; and sold produce. Now, they draw stories about home - in all its forms, with all its complications. In spite of everything, they believe the world can be made a beautiful place. Toufic El Rassi was born in Beirut in 1978 to an Egyptian mother and Lebanese father. He immigrated to Chicago a year later as his family escaped the civil war in Lebanon. He is a college lecturer in history and political science, a writer, and a graphic novelist and commentator on Middle Eastern affairs. He lives in Chicago.

Reviews

"Eleven storytellers chronicle their journeys from places all over the world—including Guatemala, Chad, Vietnam, and Kazakhstan—to the United States.

Each story compellingly details a variety of experiences the individual immigrant or refugee had, highlighting differences between stories that too often are lumped together or not given an opportunity to be heard. Each storyteller was paired with an illustrator from a similar linguistic and cultural heritage. The thoughtfulness of the matches shines through, as every panel authentically conveys the narrators’ poignant and emotional memories, highlighting the beauty of their homelands and the cultures they still identify with. The narratives show the struggles and triumphs of acclimating to a new language, culture, and worldview as well as dealing with obstacles like racism and microaggressions. Readers meet remarkable people like Zaynab Abdi from Yemen, whose story is illustrated by Egyptian American artist Ashraf El-Attar in stark black and white. Her harrowing journey was filled with sorrow and trauma yet, when she finally settled in Minnesota, she found purpose and opportunity through hard work and activism, speaking at the United Nations about girls’ education in Yemen. Each profile opens with brief biographies and photos or drawings of the storytellers and artists along with website URLs for learning more about them. Glossaries following many of the stories define potentially unfamiliar terms. The vibrant diversity of artistic styles offers pleasing variety within the unifying thematic framework of the volume.
Will strongly evoke both thought-provoking insights and empathy."—KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW
"Our Stories Carried Us Here is a powerful collaboration between storytellers and illustrators from around the country, speaking to the forces that uproot us and send us to each other. The collection is a testament to the power of language as vessels for carrying our memories, to the power of images in holding fast the boundaries of who we were and who we will be."—Kao Kalia Yang, Author of Somewhere in the Unknown World

"An important collection of beautiful work that effectively communicates the genuine and diverse experiences of long overdue voices."—Louis Leung, Novelist

"Our Stories Carried Us Here, is an incredible collaboration of authors and illustrators that illuminates the experience of otherness felt by immigrants and refugees. This graphic novel is a powerful affirmation of the way stories foster empathy and connection, and provides a greater sense of how to understand and welcome our new neighbors."—Molly Hill, Editor of Blue Marble Review: A Literary Journal for Young Writers

"Our Stories Carried Us Here is an infinitely powerful collection of immigrant voices unlike anything we’ve seen. One cannot comprehend the bravery, trauma, sadness, and triumph of emigrating from one country to another as a young person, yet this anthology captures both the unimaginable journey and the humanity of young immigrants. From the storytellers to the artists, the reader is immersed in a page-turning narrative that gives you chills and arrests your notions of what it means to leave one country behind in pursuit of a different one. Our Stories Carried Us Here is remarkable and is destined to become a beloved classic that belongs in every classroom, library, and bookshelf."—Dara Beevas, Publisher, and Author of Amina of Zaria: The Warrior Queen

"Our Stories Carried Us Here is a stunning example of the power of comics to uplift the stories that most need telling. In a precarious moment for refugees and immigrants across the world, Green Card Voices has curated an incredible anthology, filled with experiences both told and illustrated by people whose creative work is rarely centered, and whose voices we will all be better for listening to."—Oriana Leckert, Director of Publishing & Comics Outreach at Kickstarter

"Our Stories Carried Us Here is a collection of compelling and emotional journeys that reminds us of why the greatest destination humanity can strive for is a world where each of us can safely make our home, and belong. This book, and the storytellers it features, offer a profound gift  - the ability to step into the many worlds they bring to life, and to step out with the insights needed to better meet the challenges of the communities, schools, workplaces, and democracy we shape together, not as strangers, but as neighbors."—Rachel Perić, Executive Director, Welcoming America

"Once again, Green Card Voices has produced a piece of historical art through storytelling. I found myself empathizing, crying, laughing while reading and graphically interpreting a glimpse into the immigrant experience of so many. The experiences are so unique yet reminding me that we need to constantly be sharing these stories. The series is an archive of our lived experiences and part of the racial justice movement."—Nausheena Hussain, Executive Director of Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE)

"This book is a beautiful, accessible, and heart-expanding invitation for us to learn the stories of some of our neighbors. I hope that many will accept this invitation, and channel the understanding and care that is sure to follow into becoming better listeners, community members and neighbors who welcome and support one another."—Alyssa Tsagong, Director of Education, PBS Wisconsin

"Our Stories Carried Us Here: A Graphic Novel Anthology is a beautiful representation of how powerful the intersection of art and storytelling can be. It offers a critically humanizing perspective that the reader can't help but love, rally around and stand up for the storytellers, and encourages the reader to take action in real life. To me, that's what this book is all about."—Christine Her, Executive Director of ArtForce Iowa