Mixed Roots: Writers on Multiracial Identity & Both/And Belonging

by Anne Liu Kellor (Editor)

29 personal essays exploring mixed identity, belonging, family, racism, community and the paradoxical ways of being in the world

“An unprecedented ode to the wide range of mixed-root experiences and what is shared across difference. Required reading for anyone who has ever been asked what are you? I want everyone to read this.”
—Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood and The Dry Season

Multiracial people are everywhere—but so often their stories are oversimplified, overlooked, or left out of the narrative altogether. Mixed Roots collects 29 voices from different generations, geographies, and mixes of race and ethnicity. Combining powerful personal narratives with community-oriented perspectives, Mixed Roots explores themes of inherited belief systems, racism, whiteness, migration, language, trauma, ancestry, and healing.

When society so often wants to divide us into either/or categories, Mixed Roots reminds us that multiracial experiences are complex and can be told in different ways. This anthology engages with the familiar questions of “what are you?” or “where do you belong?” with nuance, dispelling the idea that there is ever one right way to identify. In a time of increased polarization, Mixed Roots invites more of us to examine the historical legacies and harm caused by racism within ourselves and our communities.

With compelling, intimate, lyrical and conversational prose, the voices in Mixed Roots honor the realities we’ve inherited around race, while pushing against old assumptions— encouraging readers to embrace paradox and non-binary belonging.

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook

278 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 13, 2026

About the author

Anne Liu Kellor is a mixed-race Chinese American writer, editor, coach, and teacher based in Seattle. MIXED ROOTS: WRITERS ON MULTIRACIAL IDENTITY & BOTH/AND BELONGING (Beacon Press, 2026) collects the voices of 29 emerging and established writers, many of whom were students in Anne's annual Both/And: Reading and Writing the Mixed-Race Experience workshop. Anne teaches seasonal writing workshops online and facilitates a yearlong creative nonfiction manuscript program for women and nonbinary writers seeking mentorship and community.

Anne is also the author of the memoir HEART RADICAL: A SEARCH FOR LANGUAGE, LOVE, AND BELONGING (She Writes, 2021), a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and Foreword Book of the Year Award, as well as a bronze IPPY winner. Her essays have appeared in YES! Magazine, Memoir Land, Longreads, Fourth Genre, Witness, New England Review, The Normal School, Los Angeles Review, Literary Mama, and many more. She earned her MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles, and is the recipient of fellowships from Hedgebrook, The Whiteley Center, Seventh Wave, Jack Straw Writers Program, 4Culture, and Hypatia-in-the-Woods.

Reviews

[Cassie C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so rarely come across an anthology such as this in which I thoroughly enjoyed every single story within it. In fact this may be the first one. I truly found each and every account in this book to have a unique, important, and nuanced take on multiracial identity. You would think that having so many of them compiled here would mean a reader could tire of coming across similar themes, but the diversity in these stories that is reflective of the diversity of the authors themselves makes each one moving. I believe it was in Joemy Ito-Gates’ piece that it’s mentioned that multiracial individuals can act as bridges, but that they shouldn’t necessarily have to act as such, shouldn’t necessarily have to bear that burden, and that stuck with me. This book seems to me like it would a great read for a young multiracial reader to see themselves reflected in these stories, but is equally as beneficial for people with “unmixed roots” to see the experiences of others.
Many thanks to Libro.fm, Beacon Press and Anne Liu Kellor for the chance to listen to this ALC for educators.

[mixedreader · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

A couple of things really stood out to me about it this anthology. Firstly, there’s a good amount of the writers who are based in or from the West Coast. This was important to me because in many previous anthologies, narratives of the northeast dominate. As a CA girl, I knew a specific kind of liberal-coated, swerving around political-correctness, less overt racism. Writers in this anthology explore that in childhood experiences and messages they received. Secondly, there’s writers who play with form, including graphic novel, a questionnaire, and epistolary style pieces. And lastly, which seems very intentional on behalf of the editor (see the description on slide 2), the conversation in these pieces go beyond what often becomes a Black/white binary of mixedness.

Some of my favorite pieces included “The Friendly City” by Grace M. Cho, “Lessons in Lack” by Alayna Erhart, “The Miracle” by Malaka Gharib, and “Grandma in Blackface” by Shannon Luders-Manuel.

Another lovely aspect of this collection is the resources at the end, which includes additional readings and a history of segregation and racial/cultural mixing in the U.S.. It makes this anthology a great pick both for folks who have been in these conversations and communities for a long time, and those who are new to unpacking parts of their identity.

[Michael Godwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mixed Roots: Writers on Multiracial Identity & Both/And Belonging is a thoughtful and timely collection that expands the conversation around race, identity, family, and belonging. Edited by Anne Liu Kellor, the anthology brings together twenty-nine personal essays that explore the complexity of living between and across cultures, communities, histories, and identities.

One of the collection’s greatest strengths is its refusal to reduce multiracial identity to a single narrative. The contributing writers explore experiences of family, racism, privilege, microaggressions, ancestral trauma, internalized racism, and cultural belonging while demonstrating how deeply personal and varied these experiences can be. The range of voices and perspectives gives the collection considerable depth.

Rather than presenting identity as something that must fit neatly into predetermined categories, Mixed Roots embraces contradiction, complexity, and the possibility of holding multiple truths at once. Readers interested in essays, multicultural literature, race and identity, family history, belonging, cultural studies, and contemporary conversations about intersectionality should find this collection particularly meaningful. It is an engaging invitation to reconsider how we understand ourselves and one another.

[Alexis Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mixed Roots is an exceptional anthology! I am mixed and found this book both illuminating and affirming. The introduction alone is well worth a read. Please note that Anne Liu Kellor is a writing teacher of mine and also a friend. For anyone who is mixed, raising mixed children, teaching mixed students or has friends and family who are mixed, this book is for YOU!