Recommended Reading: 2021 Releases from Asian & AsAm Writers
There are so many amazing titles coming out this year by Asian and Asian American writers–debuts! memoirs! stories! YA! poetry! picture books!–that we decided to put all of the releases we’re most excited about in one place in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month. Check out some of books our booksellers are obsessing about right now, and take a look here for some of our favorites from last year!
Note regarding intention: We thought it would be disingenuous to arbitrarily include one or two books by Pacific Islanders for the sake of cosmetic representation under the ‘AAPI’ umbrella, as we do not know of any Own Voices titles by Pacific Islanders that have been or will soon be released from publishers this year, excluding University presses. We instead wish to acknowledge this omission by imploring the publishing industry to do better in this department! We hope to see in the near future that books published about the Pacific islands be written by those native to these regions, and to see those authors prioritized, fairly compensated, and supported by large and small publishers alike.
Northern Light by Kazim Ali
When Ali searches up his childhood town, Jenpeg, he discovers that it no longer exists and that all along the settlement sat on the sovereign, unceded land of the Pimicikamak. Further investigations lead him to unearth the longstanding, enduring conflicts between the Pimicikamak people and the Canadian government, and how these conflicts may have contributed to the community’s youth suicide crisis. As Ali grapples with questions of belonging, accountability, and connection, he gracefully uplifts the many colors of a narrative previously reduced to grayscale. –Serena
Laxmi’s Mooch by Shelly Anand
A really cute body positivity story about normalizing body hair on girls! “Mooch” is Hindi for mustache! Such a fun word; I’ll start using it in my everyday speech! –Jacque
I’m Waiting for You by Kim Bo-Young
Translated, here, for the first time in English, are the probing and existential stories of one of South Korea’s most influential sci-fi writers. Written in pairs of thematically interconnected stories, two of the stories follow an engaged couple separated in space, desperately hoping to reunite in time for their wedding ceremony on Earth. The other two offer a glimpse into the realm of gods; when one god’s “child” rebels against the original order of existence, that very order is put into question. I can’t stop thinking about this book! –Serena
Bestiary by K Ming Chang (pb: June 1)
This novel hits every mark for me when it comes to the themes/structures/motifs that, without fail, make me pick up a book. Mythic and magical? CHECK. A coming-of-age about girlhood and queer desires? CHECK. A multigenerational, migrant family story? CHECK. Experimental, inventive storytelling? Please, I can’t take it! Though Chang’s voice is extremely unique, I would say fans of Akwaeke Emezi and Helen Oyeyemi will love this book. –Serena
Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen
Sliding between realism and tongue-in-cheek magical realism across the Chinese diaspora, these stories work together to weave a portrait of modern China that is sharp and brilliant with social insight. With a background in journalism, Chen’s fiction is vivid and inspired. A true delight. –Colleen
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho
Jessamyn is a reluctant medium (they got me already!) who moves back to Malaysia with her parents for the first time since she was a toddler. Soon, she starts hearing the voice of her deceased and estranged grandmother who ropes Jess into revenge plots and other ghostly strife. While this book definitely delivers for any fans of the supernatural, it’s also a story about family and our often complicated relationships with loved ones. –Lindsay
Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi
I love Choi’s novels, and this one, about two Korean-American sisters from Texas who are muddling through their 20s in New York City, might be her best book yet. –Emma
Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin, trans. Aneesa Abbas Higgins
If you, like me, rather enjoy a slim, atmospheric novel, then you’ll be as enchanted with this one as I was! It follows a young woman who is working listlessly as a receptionist in the off-season resort of a coastal, tourist town on the border of South and North Korea. While there, she meets an unexpected and enigmatic guest, a French comic book illustrator who she becomes fixated on despite her perfunctory engagement to a vapid, mostly-absent model. A stylish, sexy, and cinematic novel that can be read in a day! –Serena
Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho
A beautiful story about a girl who notices her eyes are different from her classmates. Love how lyrical these words are! –Jacque
Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur
For fans of Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom or Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, Folklorn joins the ranks of contemporary classics re-shaping the canon of family saga and immigrant narratives. Excavating the illness and pain brought by generational trauma, Hur incorporates Korean folklore, parables, and reimagined myths into modern-day science, history and research, creating a dazzling experience rooted in the search for understanding and healing. –Colleen
Sunday Funday in Koreatown by Aram Kim
Instantly craving kimbap after reading! Celebrate American Korean culture with this vibrant picture book! –Jacque
My Year Abroad by Chang-Rae Lee
What a book! Where most novels that consider consumer capitalism and human desire tend towards serious (which is also okay!), My Year Abroad bursts with energy, playfulness, and humor in addition to intelligent and provocative insights into the workings of global capitalism. Chang-Rae Lee has a wonderful eye for detail, infusing Tiller’s wild adventures with Pong, a fascinating and charismatic businessman who takes him as a protégé, with satirical winks and thoughtful observations on culture, identity, parenthood, and love. Read it for the excitement and return for the wisdom. –Nika
Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee
We all know the story of the Titanic’s tragic maiden voyage (thanks Leo and Kate), but this new YA novel shows another side to this famous event. Valora Luck is an acrobat hoping to gain passage to New York where she dreams of becoming a circus performer, but she is turned away at the gangway of the Titanic because Chinese are not allowed into America. Undeterred, Val sneaks onto the ship (she is an acrobat after all) and begins plans for impressing the important people who can help her achieve her dreams. However, as we know, her New York dream is quickly pushed aside as she must instead fight for survival once disaster strikes. –Lindsay
Pop Song by Larissa Pham
The intimate and thoughtful essays that make up Pop Song move effortlessly between personal and romantic history, criticism, art, and travel, with moments of incredible insight tucked in between. This is Larissa Pham’s nonfiction debut and if it’s any indication of what’s to come, we have a lot to look forward to! –Nika
Goodbye, Again by Jonny Sun
Jonny Sun is one of my favorite people in the universe! His blend of profundity, humor and honesty is one that I can never get enough of, and I’m so excited for it to come out. It apparently also contains a recipe for scrambled eggs that will cause you to burst into tears. Count me in. –Michael C
Terminal Boredom by Izumi Suzuki
Some days all you want to read about is alienation, the bleakness of modern times, and general despair, and for those days we have Terminal Boredom. In the sci-fi-inflected worlds of these stories, Izumi Suzuki explores sexual politics, technological futures, and the psychic toll of living in modern times with alarming emotional precision. This was one of my most anticipated spring releases, and it didn’t disappoint: prepare to be disturbed and dazzled. –Nika
The Sunflower Cast a Spell To Save Us From the Void by Jackie Wang
These prose-poems rose to me like buckets from the dark, bountiful well of dreams: dream-image, dream-logic, dream-consciousness… Here the brainy & revolutionary spirit of Fred Moten meets the biting irony of Jenny Zhang and the rigorous searching & excavation of Bhanu Kapil (who, aptly, praised the book!). The result is something wholly original that radically embraces the potential for poetry to alter and expand social imaginations. While these poems may be rooted in the dirt of our collective traumas, our interpersonal harms—carceral, capitalist, colonial, and otherwise—they reach towards light with liberatory fervor. –Serena
Pippa Park Raises Her Game by Erin Yun
A timely reimagining of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens for middle grade readers!
When Korean American, 7th grader Pippa Park receives a basketball scholarship to a new private school, she takes this chance to reinvent herself. She doesn’t want her new elite friends to discover her family works at a laundromat. This story is humorous and gives a relatable, imperfect main character we can all cheer on. –Jacque
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Crying in H Mart comes from the brilliant Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast. Zauner has written one of the most lyrical memoirs I have ever read. Her honesty is remarkable as she recounts the struggle of forging her identity after the unimaginable loss of her mother. It is deeply personal and Zauner pours emotion into each moment. From the mouthwatering descriptions of food that is deep rooted in family and culture, to capturing the radiant moments of beauty, warmth, and kindness that help redeem the heartbreak of illness. I am so grateful to have had a chance to read it and that I can share it with the people I love. –Natalie
Forthcoming:
Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean (May 18)
A delightfully charming Princess Diaries-esque romance between a newly-realized crown princess and her taciturn bodyguard. A delicious treat to soothe the soul. –Abby
Heaven by Mieko Kawakami (May 25)
The precious, tender relationship that emerges between two outcasted students who have bonded through their shared trauma is almost more than my heart can take. This “quietly devastating” (Time) novel will hit you in all the softest places. Top of the list for Sad Book Club 2021. –Colleen
Imagine Us, The Swarm by Muriel Leung (May 25)
This smart, searching collection features seven texts that can be described as poems, or essays-in-verse, or typographical experiments. Many artists and scholars, such as bell hooks and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, are referenced as Leung positions herself in the ever-expanding canon of socially responsible poetics. As the speakers attempt to carve meaning from grief, imagining what life after loss, labor, and intergenerational trauma can look like, they invite us to “write our origins / sacred here and renounce the country of our fear.” I’m reminded of poets Dao Strom, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, and Victoria Chang. –Serena
Dumplings for Lili by Melissa Iwai (June 1)
One of my favorite local author/illustrators, Melissa Iwai, has a gorgeous picture book coming out about family, community, and all of the delicious forms a dumpling can take. –Abby
The Chosen and The Beautiful by Nghi Vo (June 1)
When I read Vo’s The Empress of Salt and Fortune in January I said this was going to be one of my top five books this year despite having read it so early. The Chosen and the Beautiful, it seems, will be joining that list! As someone who is skeptical of retellings of classic novels, I was immediately and utterly proven wrong by the gorgeous and atmospheric prose that grabs you right from the very first page. This is The Great Gatsby, vibrantly retold by Jordan Baker, a queer Vietnamese woman and paper magician. Indulge yourself and read one of the very best fantasy releases of the year. –Shulokhana
Antiman: A Hybrid Memoir by Rajiv Mohabir (June 22)
In this highly-saturated and multi-textured memoir, Rajiv Mohabir invents a mode to encompass the complexities of his existence as an Indo-Guyanese poet who is “queer sexually, queer religiously, queer by caste, and queer countried.” With an intergenerational life story marked by various migrations—and some may say, transgressions—Mohabir, here, carves a vessel to contain his multitudes using the instruments of prose, song, poetry, and prayer. Authentic and defiant, this memoir responds to erasure with assertion, to derogation with reclamation, and to fragmentation with relation. Fans of Ocean Vuong, Alexander Chee, and Saeed Jones will adore this book! –Serena
Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta (June 29)
This epic teen sci-fi sci novel is one of my most highly anticipated books of the season; it’s queer girls piloting giant mechas and it absolutely whips ass. –Abby
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith (July 6)
Spanning a period of fifty years, this book focuses on two missing Vietnamese women from different generations and the multitude of equally intriguing characters who are linked to them. Woven in with the vibrant Vietnamese history and folklore are stories of ghosts, possessed bodies and lands, revenge tales, and complex puzzles. –Linsday
A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam (July 13)
There’s so much to say about why I’m excited for this beautiful and devastating novel, but I think Paul Yoon encapsulated it well when he described Arudpragasam as ‘an artist of revelations’. Who can argue with that? –Nika
Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung (July 13)
Fung writes about an unnamed Chinese-Canadian protagonist whose father stayed back in Hong Kong to work while the rest of the family emigrated to Canada. This book is about grieving a parent’s death in a family where it’s difficult to talk about your feelings. I love a good story about immigration and family so I can’t wait to read it! –Shulokhana
Something New Under the Sun by Alexandra Kleeman (August 3)
One of my absolute favorite writers, I know her new book about “a novelist discovering the dark side of Hollywood, corruption, and environmental collapse” is going to be thought provoking, wonderfully weird, and absolutely fire! –Anthony
Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So (August 3)
In these interconnected stories So perfectly blends humor and trauma focusing on identity, sexuality, race, and class through the lives of the Cambodian-American children of refugees. This will be a bittersweet release as the book is being published posthumously, we will not get to see what more he could have brought to the world. –Anthony
Edge Case by YZ Chin (August 10)
In this debut, a woman must search for her missing husband after she returns from her NYC tech job to find him gone from their home. In echoes of The Third Hotel by Laura Van Den Berg, Edge Case navigates love and estrangement, identity and immigration as Edwina’s precarious work visa situation is entangled with her husband’s. In order to stay in America, Edwina must unravel the mystery of her husband’s disappearance, all the while keeping a careful, tightrope balance on the life the couple had developed after immigrating from Malaysia. –Michael C
Seeing Ghosts by Kat Chow (August 24)
Seeing Ghosts is part examination of generational grief through the lens of her Chinese heritage, and part excavation of her family history after her mother’s passing. It promises to be one of the defining memoirs of the year, blurbed by such greats as Ocean Vuong, Jacqueline Woodson, and Alexander Chee. If you won’t listen to me — listen to them! –Michael C
Not Here To Be Liked by Michelle Quach (September 14)
This is a whip-smart teen romance following Eliza Quan, a fiercely independent young woman who doesn’t give one shit about what you think of her, and the mild-mannered ex-jock she’s horrified to realize she’s falling for. –Abby
The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker (October 12)
Set in 1890s Japan, this YA fantasy follows half-British Reaper, half-Japanese Shinigami Ren Scarborough as she scoops up her younger half-brother and flees for both their lives when she can no longer keep her Shinigami powers in check. This is one of the most engrossing fantasy novels I’ve read all year–Lee Baker hooks you from the very first page with her dark, atmospheric prose. –Abby
Dear Memory: Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief by Victoria Chang (October 12)
Letters, photographs, and familial ephemera abound in this moving book about both absence and the presences that make those absences felt. I’ve talked so much about Victoria Chang’s most recent poetry collection, Obit, which also tackles grief, and loss more generally. I anticipate the same level of dexterity and vulnerability in this collection, as Chang once again makes art out of the unanswerable. –Serena
Jade Fire Gold by June CL Tan (October 12)
A rich epic fantasy tale inspired by Chinese mythology and folklore, this captivating story strikes a perfect balance between fast-paced action and shadowy political intrigue. A lost heir; a nobody with intense, illegal magical power; you’ll devour this book from beginning to end. –Abby
Barakah Beats by Maleeha Siddiqui (October 19)
In this bright, upbeat middle-grade novel, twelve-year-old Nimra Sharif finds her voice–by joining her new school’s up-and-coming boy band! –Abby
Snow Angel, Sand Angel by Lois-Ann Yamanaka, ill. Ashley Lukashevsky (October 26)
Claire is a girl born and raised amidst the majestic mountains and gorgeous beaches of Hawai’i, but what she yearns for more than anything else is snow. In this quiet, lovely picture book, she learns to take joy in winter in her own way, on her beautiful island home. –Abby
Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu (November 2)
I saw Kyle read at a Pigeon Pages event almost 4 years ago and loved her short story, I still remember the mention of blueberry pancakes, so I’m really excited to see a book from her being published later this year! –Anthony
1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows by Ai Wei Wei (November 2)
Literally could not be more excited for this memoir from one my absolute favorite artists (with cover art designed by himself) built out of the regret of not knowing much of his own father, Ai wrote his memoir to leave behind to “tell my son honestly who I am, what life is like, why freedom is so precious, and why autocracy fears art.” –Anthony
