WE’RE BACK!

Wednesday, July 12, 2023 | 7pm at JOE’S PUB

THIS ALIEN NATION IN COLLABORATION WITH UNITED NATIONS

Join us for a celebration of immigration, presented in collaboration with United Nations Human Rights.

Host Sofija Stefanovic (author of Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration, Miss Ex-Yugoslavia) welcomes some of her favorite authors, artists, comedians, and musicians to the stage. Hear true tales about language barriers, cultural missteps, rumbles, romance, and more. Come for the stories, leave with some feelings – and enjoy drinks, laughs, and cries in between.

WHO ARE OUR GUESTS?

People with immigrant backgrounds (new to America or born here). In our current political climate, we think sharing immigrant stories is important. 

Some of our past guests have included comedian Aparna Nancherla (talking about her immigrant mother’s attempts to make Aparna less shy), Call Me by Your Name author André Aciman (talking about being an alien, on the brink of two cultures), domestic worker and activist Christine Lewis (reading a piece about New York’s nannying culture), violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins (playing pieces from Broadway’s Fiddler on the Roof), Julio Torres of Saturday Night Live (talking about his hilarious experiences at the Salvadoran Consulate), tech icon Anil Dash (listing notable advice of his immigrant parents), and The New Yorker’s art editor Françoise Mouly (reflecting on her first experience at an American airport.)

More about UN Human Rights Commission’s mission:     

• UN Human Rights believes that there is a compelling need to shift the narrative on migration from one of hate and division to one that focuses on what we have in common. We want to replace narratives of fear, division and exclusion with those of hope, inclusion and the change we want to see.

• We want to create shared spaces for people to come together, allowing us to reflect on what migration, identity and human rights mean to us no matter where we come from or what we look like. 

• We want to counter hate with laughter. Laughter is, ultimately, a common language that we all share. It brings us together and unites us. 

 Check out Sofija’s new book featuring storytellers from the show & recent LIVE FROM NYPL book release event:

A collection of 36 extraordinary stories originally told on stage, featuring work by writers, entertainers, thinkers, and community leaders. Spanning comedy and tragedy, Alien Nation brilliantly illuminates what it's like to be an immigrant in America.

Our Team

Our creator and host Sofija Stefanovic is a Serbian-Australian writer and storyteller based in Manhattan. She’s a regular storyteller with The Moth, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Guardian.com, and Elle.com, among others. Her memoir, MISS EX-YUGOSLAVIA is is a sometimes funny sometimes dark story about being an immigrant kid during the Yugoslavian Wars (order it here). You can follow her @sstefanovic

Our programmer-at-large Michaela McGuire is the Artistic Director of Sydney Writers’ Festival. Prior to taking up this appointment, she was Director and Co-CEO of Melbourne’s Emerging Writers’ Festival. Michaela is the author of Last Bets: A true story of gambling, morality and the law, the Penguin Special A Story of Grief and Apply Within: Stories of career sabotage. She co-founded the bestselling international literary salon Women of Letters. @michaelamcguire

Producer Shannon Manning is a writer for stage and screen, performer, and supporter of things she loves. She is the owner of the women-run podcast network Good Orbit.