A panel discussion featuring editors and essayists from The Lives of Immigrants and Refugees: Tales of Migration, Hope, Grief, and Finding Home in Nebraska, who explore migration, identity, memory, and belonging through literature, followed by audience dialogue about the role of storytelling in strengthening civic understanding and preserving community history.

The Lives of Immigrants and Refugees: Tales of Migration, Hope, Grief, and Finding Home in Nebraska offers thirty-one essays by immigrants and refugees who now call Lincoln, Nebraska, home. These individuals have found support, belonging, and opportunity through the collaborative work of Lincoln’s New Americans Task Force members and the Lincoln/Lancaster County Welcoming and Belonging Strategic Plan. The stories in this book are brilliant, harrowing, poetic, and revelatory. They’re also stories of survival, resilience, creativity, and a staggering amount of work: learning a new language, navigating a challenging immigration system, being perceived as a foreigner, struggling to grasp strange new customs and traditions, working one’s way out of extreme poverty, working through trauma and grief. Those of us who have had the good fortune of not being displaced have much to learn by listening.

This panel will feature essayists Eh Ta Taw, Etza Wong, Shahad Kheder, Yazen Kheder, and Sajia Qasemi

The Nebraska Celebration of Books (NCOB) is a free, public literary festival honoring Nebraska authors, readers, and the statewide literary community. The event features author panels, book award presentations, vendor markets, and programming for both authors and readers.

For more information and a schedule of events, visit the NCOB website at bookfestival.nebraska.gov