Africa, English, Expat Stories and Experiences

Travel Light, Move Fast

Author: Alexandra Fuller

Language: English

Summary: Six months before he died in Budapest, Tim Fuller turned to his daughter: “Let me tell you the secret to life right now, in case I suddenly give up the ghost.” Then he lit his pipe and stroked his dog Harry’s head. Harry put his paw on Dad’s lap and they sat there, the two of them, one man and his dog, keepers to the secret of life. “Well?” she said. “Nothing comes to mind, quite honestly, Bobo,” he said, with some surprise. “Now that I think about it, maybe there isn’t a secret to life. It’s just what it is, right under your nose. What do you think, Harry?” Harry gave Dad a look of utter agreement. He was a very superior dog. “Well, there you have it,” Dad said. Continue reading “Travel Light, Move Fast”

annacereti3 July 20202 July 2020Leave a comment

Africa, English, Expat Stories and Experiences, North America

Always Another Country

Author: Sisonke Msimang

Language: English

Summary: “Brutally and uncompromisingly honest, Sisonke’s beautifully crafted storytelling enriches the already extraordinary pool of young African women writers of our time.” ―Graça Machel, widow of former South African president Nelson Mandela

Born in exile, in Zambia, to a guerrilla father and a working mother, Sisonke Msimang is constantly on the move. Her parents, talented and highly educated, travel from Zambia to Kenya and Canada and beyond with their young family. Always the outsider, and against a backdrop of racism and xenophobia, Sisonke develops her keenly perceptive view of the world. In this sparkling account of a young girl’s path to womanhood, Sisonke interweaves her personal story with her political awakening in America and Africa, her euphoria at returning to the new South Africa, and her disillusionment with the new elites. Confidential and reflective, Always Another Country is a search for belonging and identity: a warm and intimate story that will move many readers.

Sisonke Msimang is one of the most exciting contemporary female black voices in literature. Now based in Perth, Australia, she regularly contributes to publications like The Guardian, the Huffington Post, and the New York Times. She has over 20,000 followers on Twitter @Sisonkemsimang. Her TED Talk,“If a story moves you, act on it,” has been viewed over 1.3 million times. (Goodreads)

Continue reading “Always Another Country”

annacereti26 June 20209 June 2020Leave a comment

English, New Cultures, North America

Purpose: An Immigrant’s Story

Author: Wyclef Jean, Anthony Bozza

Language: English

Summary: Musician, producer, and actor, Wyclef Jean describes growing up in Haiti so poor, he actually ate dirt. Coming to New Jersey at nine, Jean was bullied throughout school for his Haitian background. Music became his refuge: spirituals at church, where his harsh father was a preacher; jazz and band music in school; and, later, rap and hip-hop with his friends. Continue reading “Purpose: An Immigrant’s Story”

annacereti19 June 20209 June 2020Leave a comment

Asia, Expat Stories and Experiences, Italiano

Bianco come Dio

Author: Nicolò Govoni

Language: Italian

Summary: Se ti dicono che il mondo è sbagliato e non puoi fare nulla per aggiustarlo, hai due possibilità: ti rassegni a vivere una vita che non è la tua, con il dubbio di sprecare tempo prezioso, o ti rimbocchi le maniche e provi a migliorare le cose, un bambino alla volta. È quello che sceglie Nicolò, vent’anni carichi di domande, di energia e di un’inestinguibile ricerca di senso. Continue reading “Bianco come Dio”

aleexpat12 June 20209 June 2020Leave a comment

Africa, English, New Cultures, North America

The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After

Author: Clemantine Wamariya, Elizabeth Weil

Language: English

Summary: A riveting story of dislocation, survival, and the power of the imagination to save us

Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when her mother and father began to speak in whispers, when neighbors began to disappear, and when she heard the loud, ugly sounds her brother said were “thunder.” It was 1994, and in 100 days more than 800,000 people would be murdered in Rwanda and millions more displaced. Clemantine and her fifteen-year-old sister, Claire, ran and spent the next six years wandering through seven African countries searching for safety–hiding under beds, foraging for food, surviving and fleeing refugee camps, finding unexpected kindness, witnessing unimaginable cruelty. They did not know whether their parents were alive. Continue reading “The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After”

annacereti8 June 20209 June 2020Leave a comment

English, Expat Stories and Experiences, How-to Guides, Language

A Journey in Languages and Cultures – The Life of a Bicultural Bilingual

Author: François Grosjean

Language: English

Summary: This book explores the life and experiences of one of the world’s most renowned and well-respected experts in bilingualism. François Grosjean takes us through his life, from his monolingual childhood in a small village outside Paris to the long periods of time he spent in Switzerland, England, France, and the United States, becoming bilingual and bicultural in the process.

Continue reading “A Journey in Languages and Cultures – The Life of a Bicultural Bilingual”