Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

May is Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! Celebrate the history and literary contributions of APPI communities with these library titles.

This list was compiled by South Pasadena Public Library staff and members of the South Pasadena Public Library Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee.

Updated March 6, 2025
South Pasadena Public Library
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The rupture tense : poems
Xie, Jenny
Paper Book
* 2023 PEN OAKLAND JOSEPHINE MILES BOOK AWARD WINNER * * FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR POETRY * * FINALIST FOR THE 2023 BALCONES PRIZE FOR POETRY * The astounding second collection by Jenny Xie, "a magician of perspective and scale" (The New Yorker<...
Last boat out of Shanghai : the epic story of the Chinese who fled Mao's revolution
Zia, Helen
Paper Book
The dramatic, real-life stories of four young people caught up in the mass exodus of Shanghai in the wake of China's 1949 Communist Revolution-a precursor to the struggles faced by emigrants today. Shanghai has historically been China's jewel, its richest, most modern city. The...
In the country : stories
Alvar, Mia
Paper Book
These nine globe-trotting, unforgettable stories from Mia Alvar, a remarkable new literary talent, vividly give voice to the women and men of the Filipino diaspora. Here are exiles, emigrants, and wanderers uprooting their families from the Philippines to begin new lives in the Middle East, the...
White chrysanthemum
Bracht, Mary Lynn.
Paper Book
'Look for your sister after each dive. Never forget. If you see her, you are safe.' Hana and her little sister Emi are part of an island community of haenyeo, women who make their living from diving deep into the sea off the southernmost tip of Korea. One day Hana...
America is not the heart
Castillo, Elaine
Ebook
Longlisted for the Aspen Literary Prize, 2019 Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, 2018 Longlisted for Elle's Big Book Award, 2018 Evening Standard's Wander List Guide to 2019...
If I had your face : a novel
Cha, Frances
Paper Book
A riveting debut novel set in contemporary Seoul, Korea, about four young women making their way in a world defined by impossible standards of beauty, after-hours room salons catering to wealthy men, ruthless social hierarchies, and K-pop mania   "Powerful and...
War trash
Jin, Ha
Paper Book
War Trash, the extraordinary new novel by the National Book Award-winning author of Waiting, is Ha Jin's most ambitious work to date: a powerful, unflinching story that opens a window on an unknown aspect of a little-known war--the experiences of Chinese POWs held by Americans during the Korean...
The kinship of secrets : a novel
Kim, Eugenia
Ebook
The riveting story of two sisters, one raised in the United States, the other in South Korea, and the family that bound them together even as the Korean War kept them apart'A gorgeous achievement' Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko'Graceful, poignant and moving' Viet Thanh...
The surrendered
Lee, Chang-rae.
Paper Book
Read an essay by Chang-rae Lee here. The bestselling, award-winning writer of Native Speaker, A Gesture Life, and Aloft returns with his biggest, most ambitious novel yet: a spellbinding story of how love and war echo through an entire lifetime. ...
Pachinko
Lee, Min Jin
Paper Book
One of the New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century In this New York Times bestseller, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan-the inspiration for the television series on...
The Buddha in the attic
Otsuka, Julie
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2011 National Book Award Julie Otsuka's long awaited follow-up to When the Emperor Was Divine ("To watch Emperor catching on with teachers and students in vast numbers is to grasp what must have happened at the outset for novels like Lord...
On earth we're briefly gorgeous : a novel
Vuong, Ocean
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller * Nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction * Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century * A...
Interior Chinatown
Yu, Charles
Paper Book
NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * "A shattering and darkly comic send-up of racial stereotyping in Hollywood" (Vanity Fair) and a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we...
How much of these hills is gold
Zhang, C Pam
Paper Book
'A truly gifted writer' Sebastian Barry'Pure gold' Emma Donoghue'Remarkable' Chigozie ObiomaWHAT MAKES A HOME A HOME?TELL ME A STORY I CAN DREAM ON . . .Ba dies in the night, Ma is already gone. Lucy and Sam, twelve and eleven, are suddenly alone and...
Good talk : a memoir in conversations
Jacob, Mira
Ebook
'By turns hilarious and heart-rending. Plunges fearlessly into the murky grey areas of race and family, of struggling to find common ground, of trying to talk to our children and help them make sense of it all' Celeste Ng'Does Donald Trump hate Muslims?''Is that how people really...
Crying in H Mart : a memoir
Zauner, Michelle
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American--"in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself" (NPR). * CELEBRATING...

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