On October 22, the Millburn Free Public Library hosted Serica Deputy Director Daniel Tam-Claiborne for an evening titled Exploring the Immigrant Experience, a wide-ranging conversation on identity, culture, and belonging in contemporary America. The program was presented in collaboration with the Millburn Short Hills Chinese Association and drew a full room of community members spanning multiple generations.

The event centered on Tam-Claiborne’s debut novel, Transplants, and his ongoing work with Serica’s PBS-distributed documentary series, be/longing: Asian Americans Now. Through readings, discussion, and short film clips, the evening invited participants to reflect on how stories—both real and imagined—shape our understanding of immigration and the evolving meaning of “home.”

Reading from Transplants

Tam-Claiborne opened the program with a reading from Transplants, which follows a diverse cast of Chinese and American characters whose lives intersect across continents. The selected passages traced the dislocation and reinvention that come with crossing borders—geographical, cultural, and emotional. Following the reading, Tam-Claiborne spoke about the book’s genesis: years spent living between China and the United States and observing how movement across cultures complicates one’s sense of identity.

Stories that Bridge Generations

The discussion, moderated by Jon Michaud, writer and Collection Management Librarian, invited Tam-Claiborne to reflect on writing about migration at a moment of renewed attention to belonging and inclusion in America. The conversation underscored how stories like Transplants can serve as bridges between generations of immigrants—those who arrived decades ago and those still navigating what it means to belong today.

Film Clips from be/longing

The program included two short films from the PBS series be/longing: Asian Americans Now, which profiles Asian American trailblazers and examines belonging, exclusion, and agency in the U.S.

The first clip, The Actor and the Activist, features actor-activist George Takei reflecting on his internment as a child during World War II and what it has come to mean to “be American.” Its inclusion underscored how personal histories of displacement and exclusion still reverberate in contemporary conversations about identity and immigrant experience.

The second clip, The Storyteller, profiles author and refugee-turned-writer Viet Thanh Nguyễn, and explores how storytelling becomes a means of asserting presence and voice for those who feel unseen. Together, the films offered visual and emotional texture to the discussion of the immigrant experience: one dealing with historic erasure and the hope of belonging, the other with memory, narrative, and what it means to write one’s way into visibility.

Community Collaboration and Conversation

The collaboration with the Millburn Short Hills Chinese Association provided meaningful local context for the conversation. The open Q&A fostered thoughtful dialogue about intergenerational communication, cultural preservation, and the challenges of balancing assimilation with authenticity. Tam-Claiborne emphasized storytelling as a tool for connection: that each narrative, whether drawn from lived experience or imagination, expands the ways we see one another.

Thank you again to our Board Member Eden Cai for establishing the connection and supporting our outreach into New Jersey!