Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration

In this celebratory essay collection, Stefanovic (Miss Ex-Yugoslavia), host of the N.Y.C. storytelling series “This Alien Nation,” spotlights the “deep and complex” stories of immigrants in America. “Immigration is throbbing with talent and potential,” Stefanovic writes, and organizes the pieces originally seen in the series into seven thematic sections. In “The Nostalgia Bug,” André Aciman writes of being a “stranger among... new people,” while in “The Great Divide,” actor Laura Gómez recounts watching Fox news in an upstate New York town. “The Scream” sees Polish musician Danusia Trevino immigrating to the U.S. to escape marriage and Europe’s “beige elegance.” In “True Identity,” Tatenda Ngwaru, an intersex activist from Zimbabwe, is shocked by the ignorance she encounters upon arriving in the U.S., and in “What It Takes to Make a Dream Come True,” Hass Agili recalls fleeing Libya and finding solace in New York City on Pride weekend. Most stories survive the transition from stage to page surprisingly well, though some entries, mainly those from comedians, feel like they’d play better live. Still, this is a moving look at what the American dream means today. Agent: Marya Spence, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Oct.)