This past March, I attended my first Association of Writing Professionals (AWP) event in Los Angeles, and came away with a bag of new books by adoptees or with adoption themes, each of which I highlight here in this list of Eggcellent Adoption Books for Spring Reading list.
My first AWP, I had many reasons to attend, but the “Fighting Tropes, Changing Narratives: BIPOC Adoptee Writers Break Out” featuring several of my favorite adoptee authors topped my list. Moderated by adoptee Susan Ito, author of “I Would Meet You Anywhere,” the panel included Angela Tucker, author of “You Should Be Grateful,” Shannon Gibney, author of “The Girl I Am, Was and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption,” Alice Stephens, author of “Famous Adopted People,” and Ansley Moon, author of “Register the Missing” (forthcoming from Kaya Press).
The panel and reading were amazing (of course), and when Susan asked for a show of adoptees in the audience, at least half the hands in the room flew up. With Alice’s book the only one missing from my book shelf, I came away with a copy of “Famous Adopted People” and an invitation to join my fellow adoptee authors for an early dinner.
There I made a handful of new adoptee friends and connected with Sasha Hom, an adoptee and author of “sidework” published by Black Lawrence Press. She just happened to be headed to the same offsite reading I was, so we bopped over to the event together. To my surprise, Sasha would read from her novella “sidework,” which is about a Korean American adoptee who waits tables while living in a 14-passenger van with her husband and her four homeschooled children.
Back at the conference, I tried my hardest to visit the 800 plus exhibitors, which included many small presses, and the folks at Blair Publishing who shortlisted my “WONDERLAND” manuscript this past year. I added a few new small presses to my pitch list, and of course picked up a few more books along the way. Among those, I found an amazing book called “Evidence of V” by Sheila O’Connor, from Rose Metal Press. Sheila O’Connor, drawing on the mystery surrounding her grandmother’s origin, tells the story of V, a talented fifteen-year-old singer in 1930s Minneapolis who aspires to be a star. The book explores the early twentieth century practice of incarcerating adolescent girls for “immorality.” O’Connor follows young V from her early work as a nightclub entertainer to her subsequent six-year state school sentence for an unplanned pregnancy.
Over the course of the conference, I attended sessions on speculative non-fiction, pitching best practices, writing about trauma and the unspeakable, how to choose the right publishing path for your book (something I am still trying to decide), and sessions on playing with time and building compelling scenes.
My only two regrets from the conference were not having the time to meet with Diane Wheaton, a fellow adoptee who lives near LA and who just released her memoir “Finding Loretta,” and being unable to attend Hannah Sward’s reading from her book, “The Strip.” While this amazing book is not adoption related, it calls to this adoptee’s heart due to its related themes of trauma, abandonment, addiction, identity and belonging.
BONUS BOOK: Another bonus book I fell in love with recently is “The English American” by Alison Larkin.
I hope you enjoy this year’s recommended Eggcellent books for your reading basket.
AWP Adoption Books and Adoptee Authors and More!
Famous Adopted People by Alice Stephens
Description: Lisa Pearl is an American teaching English in Japan and the situation there―thanks mostly to her spontaneous, hard-partying ways―has become problematic. Now she’s in Seoul, South Korea, with her childhood best-friend Mindy. The young women share a special bond: they are both Korean-born adoptees into white American families. Mindy is in Seoul to track down her birth mom, and wants Lisa to do the same. Trouble is, Lisa isn’t convinced she needs to know about her past, much less meet her biological mother. She’d much rather spend time with Harrison, an almost supernaturally handsome local who works for the MotherFinder’s agency. When Lisa wakes up inside a palatial mountain compound, the captive of a glamorous, surgically-enhanced blonde named Honey, she soon realizes she is going to learn about her past whether she likes it or not. What happens next only could in one place: North Korea.
About the Author: Born in South Korea to a Korean mother and an American father, Alice Stephens was adopted into a white family from Philadelphia with three biological children. When she was four, the family moved to Botswana, and since then she has lived on four continents and traveled the world. Her work has appeared in Urban Mozaik, Flung, Banana Writers, The American, the LA Review of Books, and the Washington Independent Review of Books, which publishes her column, Alice in Wordland. Famous Adopted People is her debut novel.
I Would Meet You Anywhere by Susan Ito
Description: A memoir that explores Susan Ito’s journey to find her birth mother and the complex relationship that developed between them. The book examines questions of identity, belonging, and the meaning of family across biological and adoptive relationships.
About the Author: Susan Ito is a writer, teacher, and activist whose work has appeared in numerous publications. She co-edited the literary anthology “A Ghost At Heart’s Edge: Stories & Poems of Adoption” and teaches creative writing at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto and other institutions. As an adoptee herself, her writing frequently explores themes of adoption and identity.
You Should Be Grateful by Angela Tucker
Description: In this memoir and cultural critique, Angela Tucker challenges the common expectation that transracial adoptees should feel nothing but gratitude toward their adoptive families and society. Through personal narrative and analysis, she examines the complexities of transracial adoption and advocates for a more nuanced understanding of adoptee experiences.
About the Author: Angela Tucker is a Black woman who was transracially adopted. She is an adoption consultant, speaker, and advocate who founded The Adopted Life, a platform that elevates adoptee voices through various media. She was also the subject of the documentary “Closure” and works to promote racial identity development, adoptee rights, and post-adoption support.
The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption by Shannon Gibney
Description: This innovative book blends memoir with speculative fiction as Shannon Gibney explores her experience as a transracial adoptee while imagining an alternate reality where her biological sister (who died shortly after birth) survived. Moving between fact and fiction, Gibney examines themes of identity, loss, race, and the impact of adoption on her sense of self.
About the Author: Shannon Gibney is a writer, educator, and activist. She is also the author of “Dream Country,” which received a Minnesota Book Award. As a transracial adoptee raised by white parents in Michigan, much of her work addresses issues of race, adoption, and belonging. She teaches writing at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
Register the Missing by Ansley Moon (forthcoming)
Description: This forthcoming poetry collection from Kaya Press explores themes of displacement, identity, and the experience of being a transracial adoptee. Through verse, Moon examines what it means to be separated from one’s origins and the process of reconciling multiple identities.
About the Author: Ansley Moon is a poet, writer, and Korean adoptee. Her previous work includes the poetry collection “How to Bury the Dead.” Her writing explores themes of adoption, identity, and belonging. She has received fellowships from Kundiman and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and her poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.
Evidence of V by Sheila O’Connor
Description: Drawing on the mystery surrounding her grandmother’s origin, Sheila O’Connor tells the story of V, a talented fifteen-year-old singer in 1930s Minneapolis who aspires to be a star. The book explores the early twentieth-century practice of incarcerating adolescent girls for “immorality” as it follows young V from her early work as a nightclub entertainer to her subsequent six-year state school sentence for an unplanned pregnancy.
About the Author: Sheila O’Connor is a novelist and professor. In addition to “Evidence of V,” she has written several acclaimed books including “Where No Gods Came” and “Tokens of Grace.” Her work often explores family secrets and hidden histories. She teaches in the MFA program at Hamline University.
sidework by Sasha Hom
Description: This novella tells the story of a homeless Korean American adoptee struggling to survive with her four children while working as a waitress. Hom examines themes of economic hardship, motherhood, and the complex intersection of adoption trauma with everyday survival.
About the Author: Sasha Hom is a writer and Korean adoptee whose work explores identity, belonging, and the long-term impacts of adoption. Published by Black Lawrence Press, her writing brings attention to perspectives often marginalized in both literary and adoption narratives.
Two weeks later, I brought “sidework” on a family fishing trip, and my 10-year-old homeschooled grandson would sit fishing off the dock listening to vignettes from Sasha’s book. “Read another,” he’d ask, casting his line back into the water. While not a kid’s book by a long shot, there is a curious wonder and tender humanity to Sasha’s storytelling that drew my grandson in, even when references to old rock stars or gentrification flew high above his head.
Finding Loretta by Diane Wheaton
Description: In this memoir, adoptee Diane Wheaton chronicles her search for her birth mother, Loretta, and the complex emotions and revelations that emerge from this journey. The book explores themes of identity, belonging, and the impact of adoption on both adoptees and birth families.
About the Author: Diane Wheaton is a writer and adoptee advocate based in the Los Angeles area. Her memoir “Finding Loretta” represents her literary debut, through which she contributes to greater understanding of adoptee experiences.
.
The English American by Alison Larkin
Description: This semi-autobiographical novel follows Pippa Dunn, a young woman adopted from America into an English family. When she discovers her birth parents are Americans living in Georgia, she embarks on a journey to meet them and explore her American identity. The novel humorously and heartfully explores questions of nature versus nurture, cultural differences, and what truly makes a family.
About the Author: Alison Larkin is a comedienne, novelist, playwright, and audiobook narrator. Born in America, raised in England, and an adoptee herself, Larkin draws on her own experiences in her writing. She has performed her autobiographical one-woman show internationally, which later became the basis for “The English American.”
