Asian American and Asian Pacific Islander Voices for Adults

May is Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month, and in honor of this, we have put together a list of titles by authors of Asian and Pacific Islander decent.

Updated May 1, 2025
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Everything I learned, I learned in a Chinese restaurant : a memoir
Chin, Curtis
CD
This "vivid, moving, funny, and heartfelt" memoir tells the story of Curtis Chin's time growing up as a gay Chinese American kid in 1980's Detroit (Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers). Nineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven:...

2023

A Great Country
Gowda, Shilpi Somaya
Paper Book
#1 International Bestseller Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize & New American Voices Award Amazon Top 10 Editors Pick Named a Best Book of the Year by Elle, Cosmo, Real Simple, Glamour, Conde Nast, Readers Digest, & more "A premise that would (and should)...

2024

They called us exceptional : and other lies that raised us
Gupta, Prachi (Journalist)
Paper Book
"In this vulnerable and courageous memoir, Prachi Gupta takes the myth of the exceptional Indian American family to task."-The Washington Post "I read it in one sitting. Wow. It aims right at the tender spot where racism, sexism, and family dynamics collide, and somehow...

2023

Memory piece
Ko, Lisa
Paper Book
NAMED ONE OF TIME'S MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024 ONE OF NPR's BEST READS OF 2024 A VOGUE BEST BOOK OF 2024 ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE READS OF SUMMER 2024 "Adventurous. . .gritty and refreshingly girl-centric. . . lingers in the...

2024

Yellowface : a novel
Kuang, R. F.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "Hard to put down, harder to forget." -- Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences... Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who...

2023

Biting the hand : growing up Asian in Black and White America
Lee, Julia Sun-Joo
Paper Book
Julia Lee is angry. And she has questions. What does it mean to be Asian in America? What does it look like to be an ally or an accomplice? How can we shatter the structures of white supremacy that fuel racial stratification? When Julia was fifteen, her hometown...

2023

The manicurist's daughter : a memoir
Lieu, Susan
Paper Book
An emotionally raw memoir about the crumbling of the American Dream and a daughter of refugees who searches for answers after her mother dies during plastic surgery. Susan Lieu has long been searching for answers. About her family's past and about her own future. Refugees from...

2024

Unassimilable : an Asian diasporic manifesto for the twenty-first century
Mabute-Louie, Bianca
Paper Book
A scholar and activist's brilliant socio-political examination of Asian Americans who refuse to assimilate and instead build their own belonging on their own terms outside of mainstream American institutions. In this hard-hitting and deeply personal book, a combination of...

2025

The fetishist : a novel
Min, Katherine
Paper Book
An Indie Next Pick In this hilariously savage, poignant novel by acclaimed author Katherine Min, a grieving daughter's revenge on the man who caused her mother's death sets off a series of unexpected reckonings. On a cold, gloomy night, twenty-three-year-old Kyoko...

2024

The bandit queens : a novel
Shroff, Parini
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK * A young Indian woman finds the false rumors that she killed her husband surprisingly useful--until other women in the village start asking for her help getting rid of their own husbands--in this razor-sharp debut.

2023

Chlorine
Song, Jade
Paper Book
In the vein of The Pisces and The Vegetarian, Chlorine is a debut novel that blurs the line between a literary coming-of-age narrative and a dark unsettling horror tale, told from an adult perspective on the trials and tribulations of growing up in a society that puts...

2023

The good, the bad, and the aunties
Sutanto, Jesse Q.
Paper Book
What should have been a family celebration of Chinese New Year descends into chaos when longtime foes crash the party in this hilariously entertaining novel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties. After an ultra-romantic honeymoon across Europe,...

2024

Dear America : notes of an undocumented citizen
Vargas, Jose Antonio
CD
Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, called "the most famous undocumented immigrant in America," tackles one of the defining issues of our time in this explosive and deeply personal call to arms. "This is not a book about the politics of immigration. This book--at it's...
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 ...
Did you eat yet? : craveable recipes from an all-American Asian chef
Woo, Ronnie
Paper Book
From renowned chef and beloved food personality Ronnie Woo, a cookbook of over 100 craveable all-American Asian-inspired recipes. If you were ever to visit Ronnie Woo, chef and beloved food personality, the first words out of his mouth would be "Did you eat yet?"--just like how his mom...
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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