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Buy my book
Living in Sheffield: Our Journeys as Migrant Women
“I have never seen a book in Sheffield about migration that was written by a migrant author. So now we have it and you can get your copy here”, Livia Barreira, the author of Living in Sheffield: Our Journeys as Migrant Women.
Livia explains how she got the idea for the project. “Initially, in 2020, I made a list of inspiring migrant women I already knew in Sheffield and who I thought would be interested in being part of the book. I got in touch with these people and explained the idea to them. When I had a few women who had agreed to take part, I created a form with some general questions (the starting point to develop all our conversations). Because of the lockdown I needed to be creative to make the interviews happen. The participants sent me emails back with their answers to the questionnaire, and based on this I conducted interviews on Zoom, using my journalist skills to delve deeper into their stories”, explains Livia.
To be able to self-publish the book she developed and successfully delivered a 4-week long crowdfunding campaign. There are many different reasons for making the big move to another country. When more people learn and understand about different cultures, we can have the chance to live in a world with more respect and where we appreciate diversity. “If you are a migrant reading the book you will probably identify with some of the themes covered. If you have never experienced living in another country, I would like to think that you will see certain things from a new perspective after finishing the book”.
To buy the book, please send us a message with your order and shipment location
In 2016, when Brazilian-born Livia Barreira moved to Sheffield, she never would have imagined writing a book in English. She is a professional journalist, but at that time she didn’t have great English skills. The years passed by, she worked hard in improving her mastery of the language and now, after 2 years of working on this project, she finally finished and self-published her first book “Living in Sheffield: our Journeys as Migrant Women”. The book has the aim to promote diversity and its positive impact in Sheffield, through the stories of eight female migrants from across the world who have settled in the city.
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The women portrayed in the book are all female migrants from different countries and backgrounds. The book shows Sheffield from the foreigners’ perspectives. “Through the book I also want to highlight the important contributions many amazing migrants are giving to our city, and how they are making a difference in their communities. We are not invisible and I wish I could see more migrants successfully doing what they really want to do and finding their place, recognition and genuine happiness. For me, my genuine happiness is to work with communication as it is an important and strong part of my identity.” This book is now, in some way, also a tool that connects different migrant women forever.
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Evie Rushworth analyses the book
In this blog post, I will review Livia Barreira’s book, “Living in Sheffield: Our Journey as migrant women” published in 2022. ‘Living in Sheffield’ seeks to represent the migration journey of eight women, aiming to unveil the migrant women as more than sheer statistics and data. Given how divisive migration discussions are in the UK, both prior to and after the Brexit result, Barreira uses her book as a self-help book for migrant women in the UK. Through the exploration of eight migration stories, the book highlights the borders that migrant women face in Sheffield and how to break down and overcome those barriers.
Kiara Delgado analyses the book
Livia Barreira, author of “Living in Sheffield: our journeys as migrant women”, upon reflecting on her own experience, describes the migration process as a “loss of identity to find oneself in a new country” (2022, p.49). Migration can be, as the empowerment lens of this book suggests, an ultimately rewarding process that has ultimately allowed women to live in a fulfilling way after settling in the UK. The book sends a celebratory message to the audience via the refreshingly inspiring anecdotes of the interviewees. However, the challenges they face throughout the migration process are shaped by their identities: nationality, race, gender or relationship status. This blog will explore how do these factors can shape migration journeys and ultimately answer the question every migrant has in mind: when does the UK border end?