Challenges to the Dream: The Best of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Writing Awards at Carnegie Mellon University

"How moving and exhilarating to read poem after poem, prose piece after prose piece, that show us what our future generation thinks and feels about the complex subjects of race and identity! There are the rich and personal stories of being light-skinned, of the challenges of coming to America from Ghana, of microaggressions, of stereotypes, of love poems with racial complexities, of denying one's Middle Eastern origins, and so many more. Time after time, these young gifted writers, who are arrestingly creative, searingly intelligent, and ultimately hopeful, will be our saviors."--Victoria Chang, editor of Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation
"These are the voices we need to hear. Inside these words, through these emotions, observations, and declarations, we get close to what we can call the real news. With so much disraction currently in the world, these are the foundational thoughts of a generation that sees a better future, even if it's one they will have to forge themselves. From "I often cried in my room" to "A boy with big ears," the heartbreak and the joy of this twenty-first century vanguard so eloquently reminds us of where the world is actually centered. The depth of feeling and the range of hard-earned wisdom is an instructive for us all. I am so glad to have found my way and to have savored the heartfelt writing in this book."--Alberto Ríos, Arizona Poet Laureate