‘Fresh Off the Boat’ and Six-Word Memoir Project Team for Immigration Book (Exclusive)

The Fresh Off the Boat producers are teaming with the Six-Word Memoir Project for Six Words Fresh Off the Boat: Stories of Immigration, Identity, and Coming to America.

The crowd-sourced book of amuse-bouche-sized stories comes out in September, publisher Kingswell, an imprint at the Disney Publishing Group, and 20th Century Fox Television announced. People can submit stories at sixwordmemoirs.com/FOTB through Feb. 15 for consideration for inclusion in the book. The Fresh Off the Boat cast created the above video to promote the project.

Some examples of six-word immigration memoirs:

• Carried few possessions and many dreams.
• Mix of Calypso, Bollywood, and Rock-n-Roll.
• Peanut butter spread in pita bread.
• Sister pretends she can’t use chopsticks.
• Dominican gypsy with New York Soul.
• The Irish were starving. America provides.

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“Our goal with this project was to highlight and honor the feelings and experiences surrounding immigration, in both a poignant and engaging way, which we know Larry Smith has achieved with his other Six-Word Memoirs,” said Kingswell Editorial Director Wendy Lefkon.

“Fresh off the Boat reflects and celebrates the immigrant experiences of millions of people across generations. With this crowd-sourced book elevating voices from all across America, we hope to inspire anyone who identifies with the subject matter directly or through the lives of past generations to share their story in six words,” added Steven Melnick, the head of marketing at 20th Century Fox Television (his six-worder: “Grandma’s Sunday greeting: gotenyu zisa boychickel,” which translates as “oh G-d what a sweet boy”)

The Six-Word Memoir Project was started by Larry Smith in November 2006 when he tweeted, “Can you describe your life in six words?” The idea went viral and now more than 1 million people have submitted stories and the Project has produced multiple New York Times bestsellers.

Fresh Off the Boat was created by Nahnatchka Kahn and is executive produced by Kahn, Melvin Mar and Jake Kasdan. The show, now in its third season, is based on the memoir of chef and restaurateur Eddie Huang. The series centers on the Huangs, a Taiwanese-American family adjusting to life in Orlando, Fla., in the 1990s. It stars Randall Park, Constance Wu, and Hudson Yang as the young Eddie.