Diversity Reads - Voices of Poverty and HomelessnessLike this list

20 items

• Class

  a Memoir

  Land, Stephanie, 1978-

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  Class paints an intimate and heartbreaking portrait of motherhood as it converges and often conflicts with personal desire and professional ambition. Who has the right to create art? Who has the right to go to college? And what kind of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Season in Chezgh'un

  a Novel

  McLeod, Darrel J.

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  The untimely death of James's mother, his only link to his extended family and community, propels him into a quest to reconnect with his roots. He secures a job as a principal in a remote northern Dakelh community but quickly learns that…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Life in Two Worlds

  a Coach's Journey From the Reserve to the NHL and Back

  Nolan, Ted, 1958-

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  In 1997 Ted Nolan won the Jack Adams Award for best coach in the NHL. But he wouldn't work in pro hockey again for almost a decade. What happened? Growing up on a First Nation reserve, young Ted Nolan built his own backyard hockey rink and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt

  Everything I Wish I Never Had to Learn About Money

  Pendleton, Madeline

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  A big-hearted, no-bullshit memoir from TikTok superstar Madeline Pendleton about her journey from living paycheck to paycheck to creating a multi-million-dollar business that offers a compassionate alternative to capitalism.

• Poverty, by America

  Desmond, Matthew

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  The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Girl in the Middle

  Growing Up Between Black and White, Rich and Poor

  Granofsky, Anais

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  A moving and vivid memoir of a young girl switching between worlds, wanting only to be loved. When Anais Granofsky's parents met at college, they were each foreign and fascinating to the other -- he, Stanley, the son of fantastically…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Miskwagoode

  Baker, Marie Annharte, 1942-

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  In her sly, cheeky riffs on life behind the "buckskin curtain" at the margins of settler society, the author talks about granny circles, horny old guys, and getting your hair done -- the belonging her community offers. But she sets these…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Queen Mimi

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  Forced onto the streets in her 50s, Marie found "home" at a Santa Monica laundromat. Taking shelter there for 20 years, Mimi's passion for pink, and living without looking back, has taken her from homelessness to Hollywood's red carpets.

• The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside

  Ryn, Jessica

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  Dawn Elisabeth Brightside has been running from her past for twenty-two years and two months, precisely. So when she is offered a bed in St Jude's Hostel for the Homeless, it means so much more than just a roof over her head. But with St…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Invisible Child

  Poverty, Survival, and Hope in An American City

  Elliott, Andrea

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  A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter follows eight years in the life of a young girl in Brooklyn as her family navigates the world of homeless shelters, violence and addiction, as well as her eventual enrollment in a Pennsylvania boarding…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Run as One

  My Story

  Ranville, Errol, 1953-

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  Errol Ranville has been running all his life: from chronic poverty and racism in rural Manitoba; a discriminatory music business; alcohol and drug addiction; and the responsibilities that come with being regarded as a role model. Though…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Unsettled Ground

  a Novel

  Fuller, Claire

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  When their mother dies suddenly, 51-year-old twins Jeanie and Julius, who have limited exposure to the outside world, strive to find a way forward until secrets from their mother's past come to light, forcing them to question who they are.

• Beautiful Country

  a Memoir

  Wang, Qian Julie, 1987-

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  This memoir from a Chinese woman who arrived in New York City at age seven examines how her family lived in poverty out of fear of being discovered as undocumented immigrants and how she was able to find success.

• Nora

  a Love Story of Nora and James Joyce

  O'Connor, Nuala, 1970-

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  Reimagining of the life of James Joyce's wife, muse, and the model for Molly Bloom in Ulysses.

• A Complex Exile

  Homelessness and Social Exclusion in Canada

  Dej, Erin, 1983-

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  This book goes beyond bio-medical and psychological perspectives on homelessness, mental illness, and addiction, to call for a transformation in how we respond to homelessness in Canada.

• What I Want You to See

  Linka, Catherine

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  Sabine's scholarship to a prestigious art school was a dream come true, but one desperate decision might bring her new life crashing down.

• From the Ashes

  My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way

  Thistle, Jesse

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  In this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir, Jesse Thistle, once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar, chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Public

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  After learning that emergency shelters are at full capacity when a brutal Midwestern cold front makes its way to Cincinnati, a large group of homeless library patrons refuse to leave the downtown public library at closing time. What begins…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Lady in the Van

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  Maggie Smith stars in this story about a woman who lives in a van, not down by the river, but in someone's driveway.

• Evicted

  Poverty and Profit in the American City

  Desmond, Matthew

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  In Evicted , Princeton sociologist and MacArthur "Genius" Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads.