LARRY SMITH AND SPECIAL GUESTS DISCUSS SIX WORDS FRESH OFF THE BOAT

Six Words Fresh Off the Boat: Stories of Immigration, Identity, and Coming to America (Kingswell)

Marrying the acclaimed immigration-themed ABC Television Network series Fresh Off the Boat with the New York Times bestselling Six-Word Memoirseries by Larry Smith, Kingswell Press is thrilled to publish Six Words Fresh Off the Boat: Stories of Immigration, Identity, and Coming to America. 

This timely and unique crowd-sourced book of immigration stories — each told in six words —  captures hundreds of memoirs on the experience from across America, spanning cultures and generations, to paint a powerful portrait of who we are as a country, and where we came from.

Contributors include refugees (“Refugee went from burkas to bachelors,” “Boat person finds freedom in America”); students (“I only speak Spanish on weekends,” “Hoping my school lunch doesn’t ‘smell’”); armed forces personnel (“Salvadoran immigrant raises US Navy diver,” “Retired Marine, looked upon as outsider”); an astronaut (“From migrant farmworker to NASA astronaut”); an Olympiad (“Albanian Olympiad flees for America: reborn”); and a Teen Jeopardy winner (“Land of opportunity lets me learn”).

The book also includes coming-to- America stories from a number of notable actors, authors, athletes, artists, entrepreneurs, and political figures, among them:

M. Night Shyamalan: “My accent has become my voice.”
Aziz Ansari: “Every immigrant’s journey is truly incredible.” 
Arianna Huffington: “Another Greek Odyssey, thriving in America.”
Mario Batali: “Joyous polyglot, cooked with the world.” 
Jeremy Lin: “Abandoned the piano for a basketball.”  
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: “Nobody is ever just a refugee.”
Dr. Sanjay Gupta: “Indian mother: Ford’s first female engineer.” 
Junot Díaz: “We immigrants are America’s true superpower.”
Narciso Rodriguez: “Immigrant son proudly dresses First Lady.”
George Takei: “Even after internment, still love America.” 
Gabourey Sidibe: “We all have traditional Muslim names.”
Madeleine Albright: “In 1948, I was a refugee.”

The book also includes six words from the cast and creative team of Fresh Off the Boat, many of whom are immigrants or the children of immigrants, as well as several longer essays that expand on a six-word story, providing first-person accounts, both joyful and harrowing, of coming to America.

With more than one million available on SixWordsMemoirs.com already, Six Words Fresh Off the Boat: Stories of Immigration, Identity, and Coming to America is sure to tug at the heartstrings, create meaningful connection, and provide an accessible conversation starter between generations to get together and share the incredible journeys, personal, humorous moments, and unique experiences that shaped and impacted their lives along the way to the creation of an American dream.

Called “on a quest to spark the creativity of aspiring writers” by O, The Oprah Magazine, Larry Smith is the creator of the global phenomenon, the Six-Word Memoirs project, a bestselling series of books, board games, and live-event series. Since 2006, more than one million short life stories have been shared on SixWordMemoirs.com, and countless more in classrooms, churches, veterans’ groups, speed-dating sessions, and more. Prior to launching Six-Word Memoirs, Larry was a journalist whose work can be found in The New York Times, ESPN The Magazine, Popular Science, Slate, and other publications. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife, writer Piper Kerman.