The editors of this anthology have set out to chronicle the global quest for identity, making a strong case for the personal and political importance of sharing our stories as they consider whether coming of age is a Western - or universal - concept. With luminaries such as Ben Okri, Chang-rae Lee and recent bestsellers including Marjane Satrapi and Alexandra Fuller, this collection includes detailed introductions to each piece of memoir, graphics, lyric prose and tales which provide historical and cultural context.

Author Biography

Faith Adiele received the PEN Beyond Margins Award for her memoir about coming of age in Thailand, Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun (W.W. Norton). She is also the writer (and subject) of My Journey Home, a PBS documentary about growing up Nigerian/Nordic American. She resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she is a professor of creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh. Mary Frosch is the editor of Coming of Age in America and Coming of Age in the 21st Century and the co-editor of Coming of Age Around the World (all available from The New Press). As a teacher at The Spence School she designed a world literature curriculum and helped implement the multicultural literature program. She divides her time between New York City and Santa Monica, California.