My copy was a Christmas present from my dad and step-mum, staunch supporters of this project! I remember reading this when my now toddler was 7-8 moths old, I used to take him to the rooftop, whilst he napped, I read this book, with a nice breeze and a sip of my coffee. What a brilliant book.

In a Nutshell:

Ellis Island: a people’s history is a collection of unpublished testimonies, memoirs and correspondence from internees and immigrants, along with commissioners, interpreters, doctors and nurses- from their time on Ellis Island. The book chronicles Ellis Island from the 1890s (when it opened) to the present day (more or less). It really is a people’s history.

Themes:

Immigration, emigration, love, family, identity, racism and politics

Observations:

This book came about as a result of a trip to Ellis Island. Szenert says that her “curiosity grew with each step.”

From 1892-1954, over 16.6 million immigrants sailed into the port of New York, the majority passed through Ellis Island. The last foreigner, Arne Petersen, left the island on the 12th of November 1955. His charge? He overstayed his leave at the port: he’d lost track of time whilst partying on the Brooklyn waterfront.

As the twin Towers fell on September 11th, Ellis Island served as a rescue/crisis centre.

A Quote:

“Swindling immigrants is contemptible business, and whoever does this, under whatever form, should be despised. It is the duty of all government officials to go out of their way to protect immigrants against every kind of imposition.” William Williams, Former Commissioner of Ellis Island.

Author: Malgorzata Szejnert

For forty years, Malgorzata Szejnert (b. 1936) has been one of Poland’s most important non-fiction writers and editors, shaping a generation of Polish literary reportage. She began writing about challenging social issues in the 1970s, and was an active member of the opposition during the Solidarity period. After the fall of Communism, she co-founded Poland’s leading daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and led its reportage division for 15 years. Since retiring, she has devoted herself entirely to book writing. Her topics range from Poland to America to Zanzibar, always with a warm, personal focus, allowing marginalised people to speak for themselves through her work.

Translator: Sean Gasper Bye

Sean Gasper Bye is a translator of Polish, French, and Russian literature, including books by Lidia Ostałowska, Filip Springer, Małgorzata Szejnert, and Szczepan Twardoch. A native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, he studied modern languages at University College London and international studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He spent five years as Literature and Humanities Curator at the Polish Cultural Institute New York. His translations of fiction, reportage, and drama have appeared in Words Without Borders, Catapult, Continents, and he is a winner of the 2016 Asymptote Close Approximations Prize. He was awarded an NEA Translation Fellowship to work on this book.

Publisher: Scribe Publications

Date: 8.10.2020

A bit about me!

A bit about me, my name is Jess Andoh-Thayre. I am from Brixton, South London. I currently live in Cambodia. Before living here in Cambodia, I lived in Tanzania with my husband, who is a diplomat. I have also lived in Chile and Spain. I am a French, Spanish and English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher. I recently qualified as a SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator). After taking three years off to have a baby in a pandemic and also retrain, I have just returned to work as an Elementary Learning Support Teacher.