Sam no es mi tio: twenty-four migrant stories and an American dream -- an anthology that is both unique and familiar

MIAMI, May 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- When twenty-four renowned authors come together to record personal anecdotes on migration and the United States, the result is an anthology as rich and colorful as the experiences that transpire in—or derive from—the "great country up north." Sam no es mi tio, published by Alfaguara, will be available throughout the country and Puerto Rico on May 8th, 2012.

Each Hispanic has a story, personal or collective, real or imaginary, to tell concerning the United States. At one point in our lives, one way or another, we have all crossed paths with the "North." For this reason, the twenty-four writers in this unique anthology set out to portray America—The Americas, their Americas. As Ailen El-Kadi, who along with Diego Fonseca edited this anthology, says "We wanted confessions, we wanted stories that were personal, stories that weren't that easy to tell. And what did we find? We found that behind the Unites States and behind every person passing through US customs a host of fantasies exist. Our chroniclers, like millions of others,  came face to face with reality when they reached the North. Things are not as you imagine they would be, whether for someone shopping in Miami or going to University, or for those who leave their countries, families, jobs, and loved ones behind in search of a better life or a decent wage. In Sam no es mi tio readers will find just that, diverse and distinct stories from all types of people, confessions from those who have dared to reveal the myths that Latin Americans have been piling up for years regarding the United States."

These chronicles take the reader through fascinating paths, they narrate encounters, miss-encounters, disappointments, happiness, triumphs, and reality. "The book's central question is: how would you describe, today, the relationship between Latin Americans and the United States?," says Diego Fonseca, co-editor of the book. "Giving a single absolute explanation to this discussion is impossible. This group of texts fulfills the task of a chronicle: an in-depth exploration of stories that are testimony to a much broader phenomena." And so, these accounts are the echo of migrants who no longer belong to one place but are now a part of them all.

Authors included in the anthology: Daniel Alarcon, Jon Lee Anderson, Joaquin Botero, Joao Paulo Cuenca, Andre De Leones, Aileen El-Kadi, Gabriela Esquivada, Diego Fonseca, Eduardo Halfon, Yuri Herrera, Hernan Iglesias Illa, Andrea Jeftanovic, Camilo Jimenez, Juan Pablo Meneses, Edmundo Paz Soldan, Claudia Pineiro, Santiago Roncagliolo, Carola Saavedra, Ilan Stavans, Wilbert Torre, Eloy Urroz, and Jorge Volpi.

SOURCE Santillana USA Publishing