A Travel Ban Reading List
We are seeing a rise in nativism, the demonization of immigrants, and bigotry in the United States. President Trump’s travel ban on nationals from twelve countries, and restrictions on travel and student visas for nationals from an additional seven countries, limits our understanding of the world. To limit our experience of the fullness of the world’s cultures, to cause us to live in a circumscribed culture, is itself a form of censorship. Moreover, these bans obfuscate and ignore the many rich benefits to American culture from cross-cultural exchanges that immigrants from these countries and their descendants provide.
This reading list features writers from or descended from the countries on the travel ban list – Afghanistan, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, The Republic of Congo, and Yemen – and the restricted list – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. The books include memoirs, essays, novels, young adult fiction, poetry, plays and science fiction.
Writers on this list have won Pulitzers, National Book Awards, PEN Literary Awards and more. Some of these authors are read across high schools and colleges like Roxane Gay, of Haitian descent, and Khaled Hosseini, born in Afghanistan. Some are perennial nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature like Somali author Nuruddin Farah. Others you may not yet have heard of, but their works elucidate societal mores here and abroad.
While there are overlaps, there is a difference in themes and concerns between the writers or the diaspora and native writers from these countries. Laotian-Candian writer Souvankham Thammavongsa’s short story collection How to Pronounce Knife depicts the stories of refugees and the children of refugees making a life for themselves. Iranian writer Shahrnush Parsipur’s interconnected short story collection, Women Without Men was not only banned in Iran, but led to her arrest and pressure from the government to stop writing. Many of the countries on the list have experienced civil wars and autocratic governments, and are still navigating the histories of colonial legacies that created nation states before national identities.
This list would not be possible without the work of translators and small, mid-sized & university presses. Only 3% of books published in the United States are works in translation as opposed to countries like France where 45% of the books are works in translation. The recent National Endowment of the Arts cuts of $1.2 million promised to 51 independent presses and literary organizations, including translation focused organizations, like Words Without Borders, represent a significant threat to the presence of international literature in American Publishing.
Writers record their ideas, their fantasies, and mirror our collective realities. Through engaging with books we learn about ourselves and the world. We see clearer the complex tapestry of people, histories, and national borders that shape our daily lives. We are inspired to see new possibilities. Let this list inspire you to read and explore.
