Refugee High
“A stunning and heart-wrenching work of nonfiction.”
—Chicago Reader
Winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Prize
Finalist, Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award
For a century, Chicago’s Roger C. Sullivan High School has been a home to immigrant and refugee students. In 2017, during the worst global refugee crisis in history, its immigrant population numbered close to three hundred—or nearly half the school—and many were refugees new to the country. These young people came from thirty-five different countries, speaking more than thirty-eight different languages.
Elly Fishman’s work as a journalist and author chronicles stories of struggle and resilience inside American cities. Her reporting has earned her numerous awards, including several Peter Lisagor awards, city and regional magazine association awards, and the Pattis Family Foundation award. Her first book, Refugee High: Coming of Age in America (The New Press), follows the students and faculty at Chicago’s Roger C. Sullivan High School. The book won the prestigious Studs and Ida Terkel Prize for a first book in the public interest. Fishman lives in Milwaukee with her husband and their daughter. She is a Chicago native and graduate of the University of Chicago.