Announcing Immigrant Stories Challenge 2012

 For the second year, I am proud to host the Immigrant Stories Challenge. As I said in the post announcing the inaugural Immigrant Stories Challenge last year, I am the child of immigrants and have always been drawn to immigrant stories in my reading. As I started to pay attention to the theme, I realized it is actually very prevalent in literature. Across many genres, books features immigrants from and to many nations in addition to the stories of their children as they try to fit in.  

The Challenge

The only requirement of the challenge is that the books read for it include an immigrant story. The immigrants can be coming to or from any country - expand your horizons!

How Many Books Do I Need to Read?

There are three levels for the challenge:

Just off the boat: 1-3 books  
This land is my land?: 4-6 books  
Fully assimilated: 6+ books 

What types of books are eligible? Only fiction? How about audiobooks?
All types of books are eligible - fiction, non-fiction, short stories, audiobooks, e-books.

Other details?
Re-reads are acceptable as are cross-overs with other challenges. Last year, I tried to post a monthly feature that covered a topic relevant to immigration (and often books) - guest posts from authors of books featuring an immigrant story and or who were immigrants themselves (Kate Kerrigan, Aine Greaney, and Pamela Schoenewaldt). I will be doing the same this year and hope to be a bit more consistent with it than last year! If you are an author of a book with an immigrant theme or are interested in posting about the immigrant experience, please contact me.  

Any book suggestions? You can find recommendations for books that cover the immigrant experience here - this is in no way comprehensive but will give you a start. I will keep the link updated with titles suggested by all the participants. You can also check out the reviews posted by last year's participants - there are some great options here.  

What are the dates for the challenge? January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2012. You can sign up anytime. If you  are "at capacity" for challenges this year (I know the feeling), I hope you will consider helping to spread the word about the challenge. 
 
How Do I Sign Up? Go here to sign up and post one of these buttons on your blog or in your sign-up post:

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I look forward to sharing immigrant stories with you this year!