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Collaborative storytelling

Published by , Our Stories Carried Us Here shares experiences of immigrants and refugee storytellers, with each story depicted in graphic novel form in collaboration with immigrant and refugee illustrators. The anthology even featured Zaynab Abdi ’20, St. Kate’s alumna and former Student Senate President.

As part of One Read for Racial Justice, the University hosted a panel featuring several of the contributors to the anthology: storytellers Abdi, Mary Anne Quiroz, and Karelin and illustrators Cori Lin and sunshine gao. The panel was moderated by political science, economics, and public policy triple major Louise Ba ’24,  who is also the 2022–23 Newman Fellow, president and founder of Justice Reads, and recipient of the Jay and Rose Phillips Scholarship.

The anthology involved a highly collaborative process for its authors and illustrators. Each storyteller shared their immigrant and/or refugee experiences with an artist, who then worked with them to create a section of the graphic novel depicting those stories visually. 

“I really didn't change much in order to do the story, and part of that is the level of trust that Aziz gave me in translating that story,” said illustrator gao of working with storyteller Aziz Kamal. “It was both very important that I had my own independence as an artist, but also that I was being as honest to and as respectful of Aziz’s story as I could because it was his story and not mine.” 

“The first audience is us” 

Both illustrators and storytellers explored  the active part everyone plays in finding belonging within themselves and within community, and the difficulties immigrant and refugee community members face in that process. 

“It’s always hard for immigrants to fit in in a place because there is no space for us, there is no seat for us,” said Abdi. “But we need to bring our own chairs sometimes and show people that we exist, we are here.”

Panelists called out things that are often left out of immigration stories and emphasized the importance of sharing small, everyday joys that are relatable to all, rather than focusing only on difficult experiences like moving countries and saying goodbye to loved ones.

“People need to know me and my family and my life before the war and conflict,” said Abdi. If people only ever focused on Abdi’s immigration process, they would never learn how everyone in Abdi’s neighborhood came together at her house because her family owned the only TV. 

“Trauma is a big thing when it comes to immigrants, but there is that small spark of light called memories and beautiful things that we lived … We always think about who is the audience that would read our stories, and sometimes we forget that the first audience is us, and us reading our own stories of remembering where we came from.”

“We are someone else before our immigration story,” agreed Quiroz. “What’s missing from immigrant stories is more ���ٴǰ������.”&�Բ�����;

The panelists shared advice for being an ally to immigrants and refugees, stressing the importance of listening and amplifying to immigrant voices rather than trying to speak for them, and learning to understand those around you. 

“I think it starts with just being receptive, listening to people’s stories, their situation,” said Karelin. “There are definitely a lot of other ways people can advocate, but that’s the starting point.”

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The panel was part of a larger series organized by the St. Kate’s Library, led by librarian Amy Mars in collaboration with the English department, Abigail Quigley McCarthy Center for Women, and the Mission Chairs.

Learn more about Our Stories Carried Us Here and other refugee and immigrant memoirs, podcasts, and stories in the .