Kao Kalia Yang

Bee lost his father as a young boy and keenly felt his orphanhood. He would wander from one neighbor to the next, collecting the things they said to each other, whispering the words to himself at night....

This powerful memoir about a Hmong family’s epic journey to safety is a profound “testament to the miraculous strength of women and the indomitable resolve of the human spirit” (Cristina Henríquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans). Born in 1961 in war-torn Laos, Tswb’s childhood...

In the 70s and 80s, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to the United States....

From “an exceptional storyteller,” Somewhere in the Unknown World is a collection of powerful stories of refugees who have found new lives in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, told by the award-winning author of The Latehomecomer and The Song Poet. All over this country, there are refugees. But...

A warmhearted and tender true story about a young girl finding beauty where she never thought to look....

From APALA-winning author and Guggenheim Fellow Kao Kalia Yang, a middle-grade debut about a Hmong American boy's struggle to find a place for himself in America and in the world of his ancestors. Malcolm is the youngest child of Hmong refugees, and he was born over a decade after his youngest...

In this moving true story, Kao Kalia Yang shares her experiences as a young Hmong refugee navigating life at home and at school. Having seen the poor treatment her parents received when making their best efforts at speaking English, she no longer speaks at school.

A heartfelt story of a young girl seeking beauty and connection in a busy world....

Young Kalia has never known life beyond the fences of the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp. The Thai camp holds many thousands of Hmong families who fled in the aftermath of the little-known Secret War in Laos that was waged during America's Vietnam War....