In 1871, the British enacted the Criminal Tribes Act in India, branding numerous tribes and caste groups as criminals. In This Land We Call Home, Nusrat F. Jafri traces the roots of her nomadic forebears, who belonged to one such ‘criminal’ tribe, the Bhantus from Rajasthan, through the lens of caste and religious conversions over the last century. This affecting memoir explores religious and multicultural identities and delves into the profound concepts of nation-building and belonging. Nusrat’s family’s conversion to Christianity as a response to Brahmanical gatekeeping highlights their struggle for acceptance. The family found acceptance in the church, alongside a sense of community, theology, songs and carnivals, and quality education for the children in missionary schools. Parallelly, we see the family’s experiences during Gandhi’s return in 1915, the Partition, the two World Wars, the Emergency and the prime ministers’ assassinations. In a way, this is a story like and unlike the stories all of us carry within us; the inherited weight of who we are and where we come from, our tiny little freedoms and our everyday struggles and, mostly, the intricate jumble of our collective ancestry. Nusrat pays homages to her foremothers, the first feminists, and her forefathers, the ones who tried hard to fit into a caste society only to be spat out, and eventually chose alternative faiths in pursuit of acceptance.

It is 1941 in rual California. Paula Harmon and Ken Nishimura have been friends and neighbours for as long as they can remember. But around them racial tension mounts as World War II intensifies and Pearl Harbor is bombed. Suddenly, Ken and his family are considered enemies in their own country and Paula and Ken's friendship is tested by the horrifying events that follow. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS 'Tender, challenging and as warm as it was razor-sharp' Beth O'Leary 'If you've read Joanna Cannon I think you'll love this' Simon Savidge 'A sublimely witty and touching story' Jonathan Coe The standout new novel by acclaimed author Ayisha Malik - perfect for fans of David Nicholls and Candice Carty-Williams. In the sleepy village of Babel's End, trouble is brewing. Bilal Hasham is having a mid-life crisis. His mother has just died, and he finds peace lying in a grave he's dug in the garden. His elderly Auntie Rukhsana has come to live with him, and forged an unlikely friendship with village busybody, Shelley Hawking. His wife Mariam is distant and distracted, and his stepson Haaris is spending more time with his real father. Bilal's mother's dying wish was to build a mosque in Babel's End, but when Shelley gets wind of this scheme, she unleashes the forces of hell. Will Bilal's mosque project bring his family and his beloved village together again, or drive them apart? Warm, wise and laugh-out-loud funny, This Green and Pleasant Land is a life-affirming look at love, faith and the meaning of home.

First the Land, Then Fire Nearly Destroys Them. Will They Still Hold to their Dream? It had taken four long, difficult years to tame the virgin prairie of Dakota Territory. Looking back through all the heartache and the body-breaking labor, Ingeborg Bjorkland knew that God had been with them every step of the way. Dreams that had turned into veritable nightmares had been reshaped with the promise of a new day rising, and her marriage to Haaken had been its sure sign.Hjelmer travels west to work on the railroad, and after sending only one letter to Penny, who has agreed to wait for him, he is not heard from again. As the months pass, Penny is pursued by other eligible suitors, and her love for Hjelmer is sorely tried. Will he ever return to keep his promise? America's westward expansion continues, bringing the railroad to their area. Before them lies the challenge of proving up their homesteads, developing a sense of community, building wooden barns and houses, a schoolhouse and a church, a grain elevator and store.

John Creedon has always been fascinated by place names, from growing up in Cork City as a young boy to travelling around Ireland making his popular television show. In this brilliant new book, he peels back the layers of meaning of familiar place names to reveal stories about the land of Erin and the people who walked it before us. Travel the highways, byways and boreens of Ireland with John and become absorbed in the place names, such as 'The Cave of the Cats', 'Artichoke Road', 'The Eagle's Nest' and 'Crazy Corner'. All hold clues that help to uncover our past and make sense of that place we call home, feeding both mind and soul along the way.

Words We Call Home is a commemorative anthology celebrating more than twenty-five years of achievement for the UBC Creative Writing department -- the oldest writing program in Canada. The more than sixty poets, dramatists, and fiction writers included provide just a sample of the energy and vision the department has fostered over the years. From Earle Birney's pioneering efforts in 1946, to the birth of the department in 1965, to the present day, the programme has created a place for aspiring, talented writers.

More than twenty years after the ground-breaking anthology This Bridge Called My Back called upon feminists to envision new forms of communities and practices, Gloria E. Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating have painstakingly assembled a new collection of over eighty original writings that offers a bold new vision of women-of-color consciousness for the twenty-first century. Written by women and men--both "of color" and "white"--this bridge we call home will challenge readers to rethink existing categories and invent new individual and collective identities.

While hiking in 2010, an ill-advised, off-trail climb left debut author K. Bradley Watson dangling precariously over the edge of a cliff. Narrowly escaping disaster, Watson then found himself lost in the woods, bushwhacking for hours before he found his way out of a dense canyon forest. The haphazard hiking moment became an epiphany for him, underscoring the importance of following trails. As in hiking, so it is in life and faith: to find our way, we need the direction of a path to guide us. In A Path Called Compelling, Watson reimagines the Christian faith as the Jesus Path, where three key events from Jesus's life (birth, baptism, temptations) are revealed to be more than events to believe in, but a path meant to be entered, travelled, and lived. Acting as an expedition guide, raconteur, and pastor, Watson weaves masterful storytelling with thoughtful reflections on Scripture that will have readers chuckling to themselves in one moment while readying themselves to travel the Jesus Path in the next. Fresh and urgent, the book invites readers to rediscover faith as they walk and explore A Path Called Compelling.

Names We Call Home is a ground-breaking collection of essays which articulate the dynamics of racial identity in contemporary society. The first volume of its kind, Names We Call Home offers autobiographical essays, poetry, and interviews to highlight the historical, social, and cultural influences that inform racial identity and make possible resistance to myriad forms of injustice.

Winner! Western Writers of America 2020 Spur Award - Best Western Juvenile Fiction Category. In 1933, what's left of the Turner family--twelve-year-old Hallie and her two brothers--finds itself driving the back roads of rural America. The children have been swept up into a new migratory way of life. America is facing two devastating crises: the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Hundreds of thousands of people in cities across the country have lost jobs. In rural America it isn't any better as crops suffer from the never-ending drought. Driven by severe economic hardship, thousands of people take to the road to seek whatever work they can find, often splintering fragile families in the process. As the Turner children move from town to town, searching for work and trying to cobble together the basic necessities of life, they are met with suspicion and hostility. They are viewed as outsiders in their own country. Will they ever find a place to call home? New York Times-bestselling author Sandra Dallas gives middle-grade readers a timely story of young people searching for a home and a better way of life.