110 Fiction Books by Asian & Pacific Islander Authors

May is all about highlighting books by Asian and Pacific Islander authors but often lists celebrating these stories limit themselves, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to only a section of the vast continent and many islands. This reading list is a tiny attempt at recommending works by Asian and Pacific Islander authors in its true sense. Of course, it was impossible to include every such amazing book ever written so the list had to be curated on the basis of publication dates. So here are 110 recent, new, and upcoming books by Asian and Pacific Islander authors for your bookshelves. Note: this list does not focus solely on Asian-American stories and instead features works by Asian authors from across the diaspora.

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

A reimagining of the story of the infamous queen from the Hindu epic, Ramayana where fate, family, courage, and heartbreak intersect to tell the tale of an extraordinary woman determined to leave her mark in a world where gods and men dictate. Buy now!

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

A spellbinding, mind-bending, and profoundly prescient literary fiction that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague. Buy now!

Kiss & Tell by Adib Khorram

A smart, sexy young adult novel about a boy band star, his first breakup, his first rebound, and what it means to be queer in the public eye—filled with self-deprecating humor that Khorram (Darius the Great is Not Okay) excels at. Buy now!

Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala

Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie’s Kitchen—run by Lila and her relatives where they serve delicious Filipino dishes and solve crimes on the side—upside down in this latest entry (previous: Arsenic and Adobo) of a humorous cozy mystery series. Buy now!

Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier

A rich and captivating young adult standalone fantasy where, in the aftermath of a devastating plague, a young lord is determined to discover the truth behind a mysterious attempt to assassinate the young queen. Buy now!

Seeking Fortune Elsewhere by Sindya Bhanoo

Intimate and haunting stories of South Indian immigrants and the families they left behind for complicated journeys of regret, hope, and triumph, which will be centering women’s lives and asking how women both claim and surrender power. Buy now!

Cafe Con Lychee by Emery Lee

A delectable, queer enemies-to-lovers young adult rom-com from the author of Meet Cute Diary where the sons of two families with rival shops find themselves working together to compete with the new cafe that opened in town. Buy now!

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

A captivating fantasy inspired by Persian mythology, particularly Shahnameh, from the author of Girls Made of Snow and Glass about a girl cursed to be poisonous to the touch—and who discovers what power might lie in such a curse. Buy now!

Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades

Told in a choral “we” this blazing original novel is about a group of friends and their immigrant families from Queens, New York—a tenderly observed, fiercely poetic love letter to a modern generation of brown girls. Buy now!

House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport

Told in spellbinding and mythic prose, this mesmerising novel from the author of Song of the Exile is about her people and her islands—a deeply complex and provocative love story set against the backdrop of Hawaii and Russia. Buy now!

The City of Dusk by Tara Sim

Set in a gorgeous world of bone and shadow magic, this epic fantasy from the author of the Timekeeper trilogy, follows the four heirs of four novel houses—each gifted with a divine power—as they form a tenuous alliance to keep their kingdom from descending into a realm-shattering war. Buy now!

The Red Palace by June Hur

In this young adult historical mystery from the author of The Forest of Stolen Girls, a young palace nurse and a young police inspector investigate a pattern of grisly murders and uncover dark secrets when the evidence begins to point to the Crown Prince himself. Buy now!

You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat

A captivating story charting two of our most intense longings—for love and a place to call home—through the fantasies and desires of one young Palestinian American woman caught between cultural, religious, and sexual identities. Buy now!

Dauntless by Elisa A. Bonin

In this inventive and fast-paced Filipino-inspired young adult fantasy novel, a teen girl must bring together two broken worlds in order to save the nation, while also encountering a girl who is not one of her own and trying not to fall in love with her. Buy now!

The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara

A mix of literary and speculative fiction, the historic and the dystopian: in an Indian village in the 1950s, a precious child is born into a family of Dalit coconut farmers. King Rao will grow up to be the most accomplished tech CEO in the world and, eventually, the leader of a global, corporate-led government. Buy now!

Only A Monster by Vanessa Len

In this young adult contemporary fantasy, set in London, where hidden worlds dwell in the shadows and beautiful monsters steal life from the humans with just a touch, a monster-human girl must travel into the past and fight or cherish love to save her family. Buy now!

The Foghorn Echoes by Danny Ramadan

Split between war-torn Damascus and Vancouver, this traffic love story is about coping with shared traumatic experience and devastating separation—and follows two queer teenage boys as they come face to face with ghosts both literal and figurative. Buy now!

Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic by Lauren Ho

In this unflinchingly funny and honest romcom from the author of Last Tang Standing, an ambitious career woman signs up for a co-parenting website only to find a match she never expected—and explores single parenthood, motherhood, and family obligation. Buy now!

TJ Powar Has Something To Prove by Jesmeen Kaur Deo

With an iconic Indian Canadian heroine and delightful banter, this young adult fiction empowers girls with body hair and explores powerful themes like feminism, body image, and beauty industry while a swoony enemies-to-lovers romcom unfolds. Buy now!

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

In this enchanting young adult fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology, a young tea-maker travels to the capital city of a imperial kingdom to take part in a cutthroat magical competition that could be the key to saving her sister’s life. Buy now!

Dead Flip by Sara Farizan

In this fast-paced young adult horror from the author of Here to Stay, two former friends are thrown together when their long-missing best friend suddenly reappears—five years after his disappearance, but the same age as the day he vanished. Buy now!

Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim

In this heartfelt novel about the power of loneliness and the strength of love, a matchmaker returns to her hometown, Toronto, after three years and attempts to find a match for seven septuagenarian Chinese bachelors who have never found love. Buy now!

The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah

A thrilling futuristic sci-fi mystery, in an underwater world, where a British Muslim heroine of Afghan descent—a submersible racer—must brave unfathomable waters and defy a corrupt government to save her father from being arrested on false charges. Buy now!

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

A highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history. Buy now!

Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria by George Jreije

With sweeping stakes and action-packed adventure, this middle grade fantasy follows a Lebanese American boy as he attends an alchemy school and becomes an unlikely hero to save his friends and the alchemy world when a sinister evil lurks in the shadows. Buy now!

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh

A multi-narrative novel about mourning, meddling, celebrating, and healing together follows a family of estranged Vietnamese women—cursed to never know love or happiness—as they reunite when a psychic makes a startling prediction. Buy now!

The Silence of Scheherazade by Defne Suman, Tr. Betsy Goskel

Set in the ancient city of Smyrna, this powerful historical fiction follows the intertwining fathers of four families—a Levantine, a Greek, a Turkish, and an Armenian family—as their peaceful city is ripped apart by the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Buy now!

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

A ruthless princess seeking to steal a throne and a powerful priestess desperate to save her family come together—in an ancient temple that was once a source of magic and is now a decaying ruin—to rewrite the fate of an empire in this epic, sapphic adult fantasy. Buy now!

Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

A propulsive and dazzling literary fiction set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act is about a Chinese girl fighting to claim her place in the 1880s American West after a difficult journey filled with untold history and folklore. Buy now!

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, this epic adult fantasy weaves together a gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, a cowardly prince, and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a legendary, magical lamp. Buy now!

Not Here to be Liked by Michelle Quach

A cheeky and whip-smart young adult contemporary where an ambitious Chinese Vietnamese American girl finds herself trapped between leading a feminist movement and falling for her patriarchal enemy—and unpacks gendered double standards. Buy now!

The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach

In this queer, Maori-inspired epic fantasy, a police office who is murdered, brought back to life with a mysterious new ability to manipulate life force, is tasked with protecting her city from an insidious evil threatening to destroy it. Buy now!

Amorangi and Millie’s Trip Through Time by Lauren Keenan

A funny and enlightening middle grade novel about two siblings who must travel back in time to find their mum, and in this journey, meet their ancestors and learn about New Zealand history: the eruption of Mount Taranaki, WWII, and the invasion of Parihaka. Buy now!

You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa

A dangerously addictive thriller about a lavish Sri Lankan wedding celebration that not everyone will survive when a Amaya, a guest, is accused of the murder of the bride—who is also her childhood best friend and was marrying Amaya’s ex-boyfriend. Buy now!

An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan

In this reimagined mix of the Shakespearean romantic tragedy and Chinese-Taiwanese mythology by the author of The Astonishing Color of After, two teenage star-crossed lovers fall in love despite their warring families, in the midst of a supernatural wind. Buy now!

Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win by Susan Azim Boyer

A fresh, unforgettable coming-of-age story of one Iranian American young woman’s experience navigating her identity, friendship, family, her future, and a budding romance, all set against life-changing historical events of 1979 with present-day relevance. Buy now!

Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai

A gorgeously written and deeply moving young adult novel where in the final days of the Vietnam War, a sister is left behind as she manages to send her little brother to safety in America, and six years later makes a brutal journey as a refugee. Buy now!

Mata Oti by Lani Wendt Young

In this novel themed around a zombie apocalypse and set in Samoa, Iva tries to protect her two young nieces from the virus while the outbreak spreads and she tries to race against time to catch an emergency evacuation plane. Buy now!

Keya Das’s Second Act by Sopan Deb

A poignant, heartwarming, and charmingly funny novel about how a discovered box in the attic leads one Bengali American family down a path toward understanding the importance of family, even when splintered, and right the wrongs of the past. Buy now!

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

In this fresh, epic historical fantasy that reimagines the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, a girl who is desperate to escape her own fated death uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. Buy now!

The Arsonists’ City by Hala Alyan

A rich family story and a look at the legacy of war, by the author of Salt Houses, follows a Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children who—after the father dies—fight to save their ancestral home in Beirut and unravel the meaning of home. Buy now!

Afterparties: Stories by Anthony Veasna So

A short story collection about Cambodian American life—immersive and comic, yet unsparing—that offers profound insight into the intimiacy of LGBTQ and immigrant communities, making it an intersectional queer collection. Buy now!

Kismet by Amina Akhtar

A viciously funny thriller about wellness—the smoothies, the secrets, and the decliciously deadly impulses—follows the gruesome murders of glam gurus around town as a socilalite wellness guru’s blind ambition veers into madness. Buy now!

Forbidden City by Vanessa Hua

A teenage girl living in 1960s China becomes Mao Zedong’s protegee and lover—a heroine of the Cultural Revolution—in this provocative, poignant historical fiction where a journey of truth, power, and manipulation is seen through passionate young eyes. Buy now!

Gods of Want: Stories by K-Ming Chang

Visceral, powerful stories that centre the bodies, memories, myths, and relationships of Asian American women, from the author of Bestiary, where each tale mixes surrealism, queerness, ghostliness, and feminist fabulism. Buy now!

Rangikura by Tayi Tibble

A fiery collection of poems that live in the space between the end of the world and a new day, and explore the relationship to desire and exploitation—full of nostalgia and darker memories around the pursuit of an endless summer.

A Show for Two by Tashie Bhuyian

A witty and swoony young adult romance, from the author of Counting Down With You, about an indie film star who enrols in high school under a secret identity, and the girl who will do whatever it takes to convince him to star in her short film. Buy now!

Circling Back to You by Julie Tieu

A sexy new novel about colleagues who decide to take their relationship as best friends outside the office but when a business trip lands them both in their hometown, they fake date for a family gathering and must navigate their ambitions to pursue their romance. Buy now!

Farah Rocks Florida by Susan Muaddi Darraj, Ill. Ruaida Mannaa

In this fourth book of a series featuring a strong Palestinian American girl, Farah must find a way to have fun when she is sent to visit her grandmother in Florida—who has a lot of rules—after her little brother faces a lenghty stay in the hospital. Buy now!

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

In this contemporary fantasy set in Malaysia and drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, a reluctant medium discovers the ties that bind and can unleash a dangerous power—and makes a complicated deal with her grandmother’s spirit. Buy now!

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

A darkly enchanting young adult fantasy about a morally grey witch, a cursed prince, a forbidden romance, and a prophecy that ignites their fate-twisted destinies where Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom. Buy now!

The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga

A deeply moving story, told with exceptional grace, about how friendship can be magical follows two grown-apart best friends who are grappling with grief and guilt to come together and unravel the mysteries of a wormhole to save their siblings. Buy now!

Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles

In this startling and romantic young adult fantasy where magic is both celebrated and feared, a star showgirl must win a magician’s competition riddles with danger in order to secure her freedom, even as a handsome magician distracts her heart. Buy now!

How To Loiter in a Turf War by Jessica Hansell aka Coco Solid

A genre-bending work of autobiographical fiction from one of Aotearoa’s fiercest and most versatile artists—which follows three friends as they navigate around Tamaki Makaurau during a sweltering summer, dealing with issues of identity and family. Buy now!

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood

An inclusive, comic novel about Muslim immigrant finding their way in modern American follows to families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016—and examines universal questions of identity, faith, and belonging. Buy now!

Babel by R.F. Kuang

A historical fiction-fantasy by the author of The Poppy War that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of an empire through the story of a Chinese boy raised in Britain. Buy now!

Dear God. Dear Bones. Dear Yellow. by Noor Hindi

A defiant and urgent collection of political poetry and linguistic activism that navigates Arab womanhood, migration, querness, and Palestinian identity with striking and evocative lyricism—to find and articulate a pathway forward. Buy now!

In The Country by Mia Alvar

These nine globe-trotting tales give voice to the women and men of the Philippines and its diaspora by exploring the universal experiences of loss, displacement, and the longing to connect across borders both real and imagined. Buy now!

Mother Ocean Father Nation by Nishant Batsha

A riveting, tender novel spanning from the lush terrain of the South Pacific to the golden hills of San Francisco, follows a brother and sister whose paths diverge—one forced to leave, one left behind—in the wake of a nationalist coup in the South Pacific. Buy now!

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

In this feminist young adult retelling of a Korean legend, a girl travels to the Spirit World—to seek out the Sea God, who is in an enchanted sleep—to break a curse that threatens the lives of her people and takes the help of a mysterious young lord. Buy now!

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

A poignant, heartfelt novel from the author of Together Tea, where a dreamy, idealistic teenager living in 1953 Tehran finds a literary oasis in a neighbourhood stationery shop, where she meets a handsome boy who has a passion for justice and Rumi’s poetry. Buy now!

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

From the author of The Weight of Our Sky, in a world of competitive Scrabble, a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend a year after the fact when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages. Buy now!

Bloody Woman by Lana Lopesi

A collection of essays that open up new horizons for thinking and writing in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific by giving voice to a multifaceted experience as a Samoan and a woman, from the diaspora, while exploring the idea of womanhood. Buy now!

Beauty and the Besharam by Lillie Vale

In this young adult rom-com, heated competition between a high-achieving, ambitious girl and her nemesis during a summer of playing Ariel and Prince Eric for children’s birthday parties leads to an even hotter romance through a series of challenges. Buy now!

Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho

A hilarious and heartfelt novel that brings the glamour and drama of the K-pop world straight to high school through an anti-prom girl who gets asked to prom by the world’s biggest K-pop star who also just happens to be her childhood best friend. Buy now!

Mother of Strangers by Suad Amiry

Set in Jaffa 1947-51, this fable-like novel is a heartbreaking tale of young love during the beginning of the destruction of Palestine and displacement of its people, through the lives of two families who witness the most dramatic and least known chapters of history. Buy now!

Pahua and the Soul Stealer by Lori M. Lee

A middle grade fantasy inspired by Southeast Asian mythology and featuring a unique nature-based magic about a lonely Hmong girl who discovers she’s a powerful shaman warrior and must find her way through spirit worlds to rescue her brother’s soul. Buy now!

Blackwater Falls by Ausma Zehanat Khan

A crime-mystery where girls from immigrant communities have been disappearing for months in a Colorado town and a detective turns to her female colleagues for help in finding the truth in the midst of racial tensions and police corruption and violence. Buy now!

Strike the Zither by Joan He

In this epic young adult fantasy about found family, rivals, and questions of identity, an orphan who wants to become the best strategist of the land is forced to infiltrate an enemy camp where she encounters an opposing strategist who is finally her match. Buy now!

Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi

In this thrilling young adult remix of the classic legend of Robin Hood, a ragtag band of misfits gets swept up in Holy Land politics where they must use every scrap of cunning and wit to foil the usurper queen and perhaps finally restore peace to the land. Buy now!

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

A novella with threads of imperial politics, magical beings, queer romance, and trauma where in a pre-colonial Vietnamese-esque world, a princess tales a new role as a dimplomat and that places her once again in the path of her first love. Buy now!

Road of the Lost by Nafiza Azad

In this gorgeous young adult fantasy from the author of The Wild Ones, a girl who discovers she’s spent her life under an enchantment hiding her true identity goes on a quest into the magical Otherworld to unlock her powers and discover her destiny. Buy now!

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Drawing from fairy tales and East Asian folklore, this young adult fantasy from the author of Spin the Dawn follows a princess in exile, a shapeshifting dragon, six enchanted cranes, and an unspeakable curse as a cursed sister tries to save her cursed brothers. Buy now!

The Frightened Ones by Dima Wannous

A boundary-blurring novel radically examining the effects of oppression on one’s sense of identity inside present-day Syria as a woman reads an unfinished manuscript sent to her by a writer who fled Syria for Germany and who she had a tense affair with. Buy now!

Flamer by Mike Curato

A raw, emotionally honest young adult graphic novel that tells the story of a fourteen-year-old boy who is still figuring things out as he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with a boy he can’t stop thinking about. Buy now!

That Thing About Bollywood by Supriya Kelkar

In this magical middle grade novel from the author of American as Paneer Pie, an Indian American girl’s world turns upside down when she involuntarily starts bursting into glamorous song-and-dance routines during everyday life. Buy now!

If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang

A young adult contemporary with a speculative twist, a Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmates’ most scandalous secrets—but must decide if it’s worth losing her conscience. Buy now!

The Descent of the Drowned by Ana Lal Din 

Set in a colonised Indo-Persian world and inspired by pre-Islamic Arabian mythology, this dark fantasy follows a sacred slave of a goddess, of a lower caste, and the bastard son of an immortal tyrant as they struggle to protect the people they love. Buy now!

Sugar and Spite by Gail D. Villaneuva

A middle-grade novel that follows a young girl—training to use her grandfather’s arbularyo magic—as she brews a batch of gayuma, a powerful love potion, to get revenge on her bully but is met with consequences for controlling someone’s ability to love. Buy now!

Lioness of Punjab by Anita Jari Kharbanda

An energetic coming-of-age young adult novel set in the winter of 1705 when the tenth Guru of the Sikhs was under attack by the armies of the mighty Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb as a fiery Sikh woman warrior fights these men in the villages of Punjab. Buy now!

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

A young Palestinian woman fights for a better life for her family as she travels as a refugee throughout the Middle East—born in Kuwait in the 70s to refugees, a brief marriage, prostitution to fight poverty, and a temporary home in Jordan. Buy now!

A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat

In this Thai-inspired middle grade fantasy, a boy escapes the prison he was born in and a girl, the prison warden’s daughter, is determined to find him as the magical lights that the wealthy dine and dance under hold secrets while the poor toil away in darkness. Buy now!

The Properties of Perpetual Light by Julian Aguon

An activist-writer weaves together stories from his childhood in the villages of Guam with searing political commentary by immersing himself in the beauty of his island, the magic of Micronesia, and the wisdom of his favourite books and elders. Buy now!

The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman

An epic Indian-inspired young adult fantasy where magic is a prized resource and the only thing between peace and war—and when magic runs out, four estranged royal siblings must find a new source before their country is swallowed by invading forces. Buy now!

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

A dark and fantastical story set in modern day UK where a family—one of the oldest lineages that have wealth and extra-human strength—who literally consumes books for sustenance and the lengths one woman will go to in order to protect her son. Buy now!

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

A rich, magical novel on belonging and identity, love, and trauma, nature and renewal that follows two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, while exploring the physical, psychological, and moral cost of the Cypriot Civil War. Buy now!

Freddie Vs. The Family Curse by Tracy Badua

In this thrilling and hilarious middle grade adventure, a young Filipino American boy must team up with his ancestor to break the curse that’s haunted their family for generations or be trapped in an amulet forever. Buy now!

Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu

Traveling from the ashrams of India to the underground rock scene of New York City, this literary fiction from the author of Marriage of a Thousand Lies explores ethnic, gender, and sexual identities, and examines the need for belief in a fractured world. Buy now!

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

A coming-of-age novel from the author of The Map of Salt and Stars about three generations of Syrian Americans haunted by a mysterious species of bird and the truths they carry close to their hearts to explore loss, memory, migration, and identity. Buy now!

The Sleepless by Victor Manibo

In this science fiction, a mysterious pandemic causes people to permanently lose the ability to sleep and a journalist (a Sleepless) launches an investigation of his own when his boss dies on the eve of a controversial corporate takeover. Buy now!

The First Binding by R.R. Virdi

A South Asian & Silk Road inspired epic fantasy featuring a magic system based on philosophy, tied into mythology, and following an immortal travelling storyteller who is both legend and monster for how he let loose the First Evil. Buy now!

If I Tell You the Truth by Jasmin Kaur

A stunning, heartrending companion to the poetry-prose-illustarted collection When You Ask Me Where I’m Going continues the stories of a young Punjabi Sikh woman as a victim of sexual assault living undocumented in Canada and her daughter. Buy now!

Daughters of the New Year by E.M. Tran

A captivating novel that moves backwards in time to trace five generations of Vietnamese mothers and daughters, drawing on Vietnamese zodiac astrology to chart the fateful events of an extraordinary lineage fighting to reclaim their power. Buy now!

Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong

The first book in a new duology from the author of These Violent Delights is a fanatstical take on the classic Minguoera spy thrillers and follows an ill-matched pair of spies posing as a married couple to investigate a series of brutal murders in 1930s Shanghai. Buy now!

The Samosa Rebellion by Shanthi Sekaran

A timely middle grade novel in which a young boy and his friends must rescue his grandmother—who moved from India to a fictional island Mariposa—from a relocation camp after their country’s descent into xenophobia and a rebellion grows. Buy now!

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

A gorgeously creepy haunted house tale, steeped in Japanese folklore and full of devastating twists, explores grief, the parasitic nature of relationships, and the consequence of our actions. Buy now!

New From Here by Kelly Yang

A poignant middle grade novel about courage, hope, and resilience as an Asian American boy fights to keep his family together, find his pace in a new country, and stand up to racism during the initial outbreak of the coronavirus. Buy now!

The Royal Abduls by Ramiza Shamoun Koya

A devastating novel about an Indian-American family that shows a deft portrait of second-generation American identity post-9/11 when an anti-Muslim sentiment triggers a downward spiral for a young boy who is hungry to understand his roots. Buy now!

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli, Tr. Elisabeth Jacquette

A searing, beautiful novel that begins during the summer of 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba and in present day Ramallah, is meditating on war, violence, memory and the sufferings of the Palestinian people. Buy now!

Dream of Me as Water by David Ly

A stunning sophomore poetry collection, from the author of Mythical Man, uses water as a central metaphor to meditate on how identity is never a stagnant concept but instead something that is intangible, fluid, and ever-changing. Buy now!

Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend by Katie Zhao

An epic new fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology where a girl awakens the stuff of legends from an old family recipe and must embrace her extraordinary heritage, her new powers, and legacy of her ancestors, to save the world alongside a talking rabbit. Buy now!

The Family Tree by Sairish Hussain

A moving story of a British Muslim family full of love, laughter, and resilience as well as all the faults, mistakes, and stubborn loyalties which make us human—following a single father mourning his wife’s death, and years taking a small family in different directions. Buy now!

Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

A fast-paced, sharply funny, and patriarchy-smashing graphic novel where a new girl is invited to join her high school’s most popular clique and meets their secret: they’re werewolves as a predatory boyfriend is killed and the cops search for a serial killer. Buy now!

Love From Mecca to Medina by S.K. Ali

On the trip of a lifetime, Adam and Zayneb from the contemporary romance Love from A to Z must find their way back to each other in this sequel where a marvel occurs and both get a chance to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Buy now!

The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian

A revelatory young adult novel from the author of Like a Love Story, about the enclosed world of privilege and silence at an elite boarding school and the unlikely group of friends who dare challenge the status quo through their writing. Buy now!

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka

A novel from the author of The Buddha in the Attic about what happens to a group of obsessed recreational swimmers when a crack appears at the bottom of their local pool by unravelling a searing, intimate story of mothers and daughters, and sorrows. Buy now!

A Million To One by Adiba Jaigirdar

A young adult historical romance from the author of The Henna Wars that brings together a thief, an artist, a acrobat, and an actress to steal a jewel-encrusted book aboard the RMS Titanic that just might be the golden ticket to solving their problems. Buy now!

Red Pill by Hari Kunzru

A bold novel from the author of White Tears about searching for order in a world that frames madness as truth as it dives into the current political climate of the alt-right movement, and the increasingly polarised world. Buy now!

As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

A young adult speculative novel set amid the Syrian Revolution and follows a pharmacy student as she is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive—while an imagined companion haunts her every move to keep her safe. Buy now!

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

A young adult, queer fiction set in Francisco’s Chinatown during the 1950s —not a safe place or time for two girls to fall in love— where two Chinese American women walk into a lesbian bar and risk everything to let their love see the light of the day. Buy now!