Books From Around the World (YA): Asia

It’s often interesting to get a different perspective on the world. Here are some books set in some far-flung places – and some places close to home – grouped by continent/large body of water with islands in it. The books on this list are (mostly) written by authors from the countries they are about, and in many cases have been translated into English from their mother tongues (the book we’ve chosen for Madagascar, Return to the enchanted island by Johary Ravaloson, is only the second book to have ever been translated from Malagasy into English!).

Not all of the books are in the Young Adult collection, but we’ve tried to make sure that they all at least feature kids or teens in prominent places in the story. Our eventual goal is to have at least one book for every country in the world! Help us out by sending in recommendations if you’ve found one we’ve missed!

This list contains books written by authors from Asia. Check out our lists for authors from Africa, Europe, North and Central America, Oceania, and South America for even more recommendations!

Updated June 19, 2024
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All my rage
Tahir, Sabaa
Paper Book
National Book Award WINNER Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature WINNER An INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! An INSTANT INDIE BESTSELLER! "All My Rage is a love story, a tragedy and an infectious teenage fever dream about what home...

Pakistan | Pakistani-American author

In the sea there are crocodiles : the story of Enaiatollah Akbari
Geda, Fabio
Paper Book
One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah's mother tells him three things: don't use drugs, don't use weapons, don't steal. The next day he wakes up to find she isn't there. Ten-year-old Enaiatollah is left alone in Pakistan to fend for himself. In a book that takes a true story and...

Afghanistan | Italian author; based on his interviews with Afghan child refugee Enaiatollah Akbari

Earth and ashes
Rahimi, Atiq.
Paper Book
When the Soviet army arrives in Afghanistan, the elderly Dastaguir witnesses the destruction of his village and the death of his clan. His young grandson Yassin, deaf from the sounds of the bombing, is one of the few survivors. The two set out through an unforgiving landscape, searching for the...

Afghanistan | Afghan author

Patron saints of nothing
Ribay, Randy
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2020 "A heartbreaking and original novel." - Guardian A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder. ...

Philippines | Filipino author

Three apples fell from the sky
Abgari?a?n, Narine?
Paper Book
  The Russian bestseller about love and second chances, brimming with warmth and humour In the tiny village of Maran nestled high in the Armenian mountains, a place where dreams, curses and miracles are taken very seriously, a close-knit community bickers, gossips and laughs,...

Armenia | Armenian-Russian author

The structure is rotten, comrade
Berberian, Viken
Paper Book
More in love with the alluring properties of cement than he is with his girlfriend, Frunz's overriding ambition is to become the next legendary architect. His father, known as Mr. Cement, is a builder in bed with the autocrats who run Yerevan, the capital of post-Soviet Armenia. As father and son...

Armenia | Armenian-American author

Days in the Caucasus
Banine
Paper Book
A coming of age story and a portrait of a vanished world. It shows what it means to leave the past behind, yet how it haunts us.

Azerbaijan | Azeri author

The good Muslim
Anam, Tahmima
Paper Book

Bangladesh | Bangladeshi author

Thirst
Bajaj, Varsha
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller The riveting story of a heroic girl who fights for her belief that water should be for everyone. Minni lives in the poorest part of Mumbai, where access to water is limited to a few hours a day and the communal taps have long lines....

India | Indian author

The henna wars
Jaigirdar, Adiba
Paper Book
Nishat and Flávia are rivals at school, but Nishat can't help the secret crush burning in her heart - even though her parents disapprove of the fact she likes girls. Can she possibly find her happy ever after? A gorgeous, heart-warming, queer YA love story for fans of Becky Albertalli.<...

Bangladesh | Bangladeshi-Irish author

The love & lies of Rukhsana Ali
Khan, Sabina
Paper Book
With a welcome mix of humor, heart, and high-stakes drama, Sabina Khan provides a timely and honest portrait of what it's like to grow up feeling unwelcome in your own culture. Fight for love. Fight for family. Fight for yourself. Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali has always been...

Bangladesh | Bangladeshi-Canadian author

In the shadow of the banyan
Ratner, Vaddey
Paper Book
For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. Soon the family's world of carefully guarded royal privilege...

Cambodia | Khmer-American author

Year of the rabbit
Tian
Paper Book
One family's quest to survive the devastation of the Khmer Rouge "Striking and moving... The comics form allows readers [to] understand through chronological progression and a close view how horror can become the stuff of the everyday."--The New York Times

Cambodia | Khmer author

The mountains sing : a novel
Nguyễn, Phan Quế Mai
Paper Book
This "moving and riveting" book shares a layered, epic, multigenerational story of the Vietnam war and its aftermath (Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Sympathizer)​ With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko<...

Vietnam | Vietnamese author

First they killed my father : a daughter of Cambodia remembers
Ung, Loung.
Paper Book
"A riveting memoir. . . an important, moving work that those who have suffered cannot afford to forget and those who have been spared cannot afford to ignore." -- San Francisco Chronicle From a childhood survivor of the Cambodian genocide under the regime of Pol Pot, this is a...

Cambodia | Khmer-American author

Bad kids
Chen, Zijin
Paper Book
A dark Chinese suspense thriller about teenage accountability, where no one is innocent, for fans of Keigo Higashino.

China | Chinese author

Freedom swimmer
Chim, Wai
Paper Book
This incredible tale about two boys' swim from mainland China to Hong Kong in search of freedom from poverty and oppression is inspired by a true story.

China | Chinese-American author

The three-body problem
Liu, Cixin
Paper Book
The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem! WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL Over 1 million copies sold in North America "A mind-bending epic."--The New York Times * "War of the Worlds for...

China | Chinese author

Chinese Cinderella : the true story of an unwanted daughter
Mah, Adeline Yen
Paper Book
Jung-ling's family considers her bad luck because her mother died giving birth to her. They discriminate against her and make her feel unwanted yet she yearns and continuously strives for her parents' love. Her stepmother is vindictive and cruel andher father dismissive. Jung-ling grows up to be an...

China | Chinese-American author

A hero born
Jin, Yong
Paper Book
"China. The year is 1200. The Song Empire has been defeated in the north by invading Jurchen forces. Pushed further south, the empire is in danger of collapse and the Chinese population is furious. Now it falls to lone patriots trained in the martial arts to save China. Guo Jing's father was one...

China | Chinese author

Hard by a great forest
Vardiashvili, Leo
Paper Book
* AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST FOR 2024 * * SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE 2024 * 'A spellbinding achievement' FINANCIAL TIMES'Poignant and often painfully comic' OBSERVER 'I gasped,...

Georgia | Georgian author

Night of the raven, dawn of the dove
Mehrotra, Rati
Paper Book
In Rati Mehrotra's YA fantasy novel Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove, a young guardswoman struggles with her unwitting role as a major pawn in the deadly games between two kingdoms in a monster-infested alternate medieval India. Bound to the queen of Chandela by a...

India | Indian-Canadian author

Q and A
Swarup, Vikas.
Paper Book
Eighteen-year-old Ram Mohammad Thomas is in prison after answering twelve questions correctly on a TV quiz show to win one billion rupees. The producers have arrested him, convinced that he has cheated his way to victory. In his warm-hearted tale lies all the comedy, tragedy, joy and pathos of India...

India | Indian author

Everything sad is untrue : (a true story)
Nayeri, Daniel
Paper Book
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award Christopher Award Winner Middle East Book Award Winner National Indie Bestseller NPR Best Book of the Year New York Times Best of the Year Amazon Best of the Year Booklist Editors' Choice ...

Iran | Iranian-American author

Anita and me
Syal, Meera.
Paper Book
The prizewinning coming-of-age novel about a young Indian girl in Northern England.

India | British-Indian author

Beauty is a wound
Kurniawan, Eka
Paper Book
The English-language debut of Indonesia's rising literary star. Compulsively readable, Beauty Is a Wound combines history, satire, family tragedy, legend, humour, and romance in an astonishing epic novel, in which the beautiful Indo prostitute Dewi Ayu and her four daughters are beset...

Indonesia | Indonesian author

The wandering : a red shoes adventure
Paramaditha, Intan
Paper Book
The most ingenious and unusual novel you will read all year, where you choose your own story You've grown roots, you're gathering moss. You're desperate to escape your boring life teaching English in Jakarta, to go out and see the world. So you make a Faustian pact with a devil,...

Indonesia | Indonesian author

Well, that was unexpected
Sutanto, Jesse Q.
Paper Book
"A DELIGHTFUL, HILARIOUS, CAPTIVATING LOVE LETTER TO INDONESIA, AND COMING OF AGE IN A LARGE MEDDLESOME FAMILY, AND THE THRILL OF FINDING YOUR PERSON WHERE YOU LEAST EXPECT IT!" - ALI HAZELWOOD, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS Crazy Rich Asians meets To All the...

Indonesia | Indonesian author

The enlightenment of the greengage tree
Azar, Shokoofeh
Paper Book
LONGLISTED for the 2021 PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE LONGLISTED for the 2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD for Translated Literature FINALIST for the 2020 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE From the pen of one of Iran's rising literary stars, The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree is a family story...

Iran | Iranian author

If you could be mine
Farizan, Sara
Paper Book
Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Children's/Young Adult One of Rolling Stone's 40 Best YA Novels A 2014 ALA Rainbow List Top 10 Title A Booklist Top 10 First Novels for Youth 2013 A Chicago Public Library "Best of the Best" 2013 ...

Iran | Iranian-American author

Darius the Great is not okay
Khorram, Adib
Paper Book
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran. Hilarious and heartbreaking, this unforgettable debut introduces a brilliant new voice in contemporary YA. Winner of the William C. Morris Debut Award "Heartfelt, tender, and so utterly real. I'd live...

Iran | Iranian-American author

Censoring an Iranian love story : a novel
Mandanipour, Shahriar.
Paper Book
From one of Iran’s most acclaimed and controversial contemporary writers, his first novel to appear in English—a dazzlingly inventive work of fiction that opens a revelatory window onto what it’s like to live, to love, and to be an artist in today’s Iran. The...

Iran | Iranian author

Persepolis
Satrapi, Marjane
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book A Time Magazine “Best Comix of the Year” A San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times Best-seller Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in...

Iran | Iranian author

Daughter of the Tigris
Ramli?, Muh?sin
Paper Book

Iraq | Iraqi author

The Baghdad clock
Ra?wi?, Shahd
Paper Book
  Shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2018 This number one best-selling title in Iraq, Dubai, and the UAE is a heart-rending tale of two girls growing up in war-torn Baghdad Baghdad, 1991. The Gulf War is raging. Two girls, hiding in an air raid...

Iraq | Iraqi author

Frankenstein in Baghdad : a novel
Sa?da?wi?, Ah?mad
Paper Book
*International Booker Prize finalist* "Brave and ingenious." --The New York Times "Gripping, darkly humorous . . . profound." --Phil Klay, bestselling author and National Book Award winner for Redeployment "Extraordinary . . . A...

Iraq | Iraqi author

Lola : a ghost story
Torres, J.
Paper Book
J. Torres and Elbert Or celebrate 10 years of Lola: AGhost Story, the critically-acclaimed graphic novel that explores family, griefand Filipino folklore in an all-new edition that includes a revised ending andupdated illustrations.

Philippines | Filipino-Canadian author

The forest of wool and steel
Miyashita, Natsu
Paper Book
Million-copy bestselling winner of the Japan Booksellers Award, selected by bookshop staff as the book they most wanted to hand-sell: A tender and uplifting novel for fans of A WHOLE LIFE by Robert Seethaler. ''A mesmerising reading experience for all of us seeking a...

Japan | Japanese author

The cat who saved books : a novel
Natsukawa, Sōsuke
Paper Book
Grandpa used to say it all the time: books have tremendous power. But what is that power really? Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro...

Japan | Japanese author

Wandering son. Volume one
Shimura, Takako
Paper Book
The fifth grade: the threshold to puberty and the beginning of the end of childhood innocence. Shuichi Nitori and his new friend Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families and are well-liked by their classmates. But they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward...

Japan | Japanese author

Lonely castle in the mirror
Tsujimura, Mizuki
Paper Book
For fans of BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD, fairy tale and magic are weaved together in sparse language that belies a flooring emotional punch. 'Strange and beautiful. Imagine the offspring of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle with The Virgin Suicides' GUARDIAN<...

Japan | Japanese author

Willow trees don't weep
Faqir, Fadia
Paper Book
A father sets out to save the Islamic world. A daughter sets out to save herself. Najwa's father left when she was four years old. Now, upon her mother's death, she cannot live alone in the Islamic society of Jordan. She must find her father. Her search takes her...

Jordan | Jordanian author

The pact we made
AlAmmar, Layla
Paper Book
Featured on BBC Radio 4's Open Book * Featured on BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking * An ELLE Magazine cultural pick * Reviewed in the Observer 'Beautifully written' Joanna Cannon 'Fascinating ... full of personality' Guardian 'Brilliant ... What a...

Kuwait | Kuwaiti author

Mama Hissa's mice : a novel
San?u?si?, Sa?u?d
Paper Book
From the winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction comes an apocalyptic and caustically funny novel about the power of friendship in a war-torn world that NPR calls "rich and resonant." Growing up together in the Surra section of central Kuwait, Katkout, Fahd, and Sadiq...

Kuwait | Kuwaiti author

Yalo
Khūrī, Ilyās.
Paper Book
Yalo was a soldier on one of the many sides in Lebanon's sectarian civil war, and then he becomes a deserter and a thief, a nightwatchman in Paris, an arms smuggler, and then a rapist. And then he falls in love with his victim - who turns him in to the police. This novel is a modern Thousand and One...

Lebanon | Lebanese author

The cult of romance
Ayoub, Sarah
Paper Book
When your bestie is marrying a guy she barely knows, can you save her from the cult before it's too late? Natalie is living proof that love is a scam. She's traumatised by her parents' failed marriage and overwhelmed by her grandmother's expectations of good Lebanese...

Lebanon | Lebanese-Australian author

We, the survivors : a novel
Aw, Tash
Paper Book
From the author of The Harmony Silk Factory and Five Star Billionaire, a compelling depiction of a man's act of violence, set against the backdrop of Asia in flux Ah Hock is an ordinary man of simple means. Born and raised in a Malaysian fishing village, he favors...

Malaysia | Malaysian author

Black water sister
Cho, Zen
Paper Book
'A sharp and bittersweet story of past and future, ghosts and gods and family, that kept me turning pages into the dark hours of the night' - Naomi Novik, author of UprootedThis mischievous Malaysian-set novel is an adventure featuring family, ghosts and local gods - from Hugo Award winning novelist...

Malaysia | Malaysian author

The night tiger
Choo, Yangsze
Paper Book
The Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A sumptuous garden maze of a novel that immerses readers in a complex, vanished world." --Kirkus (starred review) An utterly transporting...

Malaysia | Malaysian author

The weight of our sky
Hanna Alkaf
Paper Book
A music loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut. Melati Ahmad looks like your typical movie-going, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old....

Malaysia | Malaysian author

Burmese moons
Ansel, Sophie
Paper Book
In the jungle of Burma, a tribe of the Zomi ethnic group lives modestly and peacefully. Thazama is a young, intrepid Zomi who loves hunting and playing games with his friend Moonpi and is secretly in love with the beautiful Kim. But the Burmese revolution of 1988 and the ensuing bloodbath changes...

Myanmar | French author writing based on her experiences living in Myanmar from 2007-12.

The girl with seven names : a North Korean defector's story
Lee, Hyeonseo
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An extraordinary insight into life under one of the world's most ruthless and secretive dictatorships - and the story of one woman's terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom. As a child growing up in North Korea,...

North Korea | North Korean author

Every falling star : the true story of how I survived and escaped North Korea
Lee, Sungju
Paper Book
Every Falling Star, the first book to portray contemporary North Korea to a young audience, is Sungju Lee's intense memoir about being forced at age 12 to live on the streets and fend for himself. "Presents North Korea as a horrifying real-life...

North Korea | North Korean author

Without you, there is no us : my time with the sons of North Korea's elite
Kim, Suki
Paper Book
A haunting account of teaching English to the sons of North Korea's ruling class during the last six months of Kim Jong-il's reign   Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no...

North Korea | South Korean-American author writing on her experiences living and teaching English in Pyongyang in 2011.

Celestial bodies
Alharthi, Jokha
Paper Book
Celestial Bodies is set in the village of al-Awafi in Oman, where we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla who rejects all offers while waiting for her beloved, who has emigrated to Canada. These three women and...

Oman | Omani author

I am thunder
Khan, Muhammad (Teen fiction writer)
Paper Book
I Am Thunder is the Branford Boase Award-winning debut YA novel which questions how far you'll go to stand up for what you believe. Fifteen-year-old Muzna Saleem is used to being invisible. So no one is more surprised than her when Arif Malik, the hottest boy in...

Pakistan | British-Pakistani author

Written in the stars
Saeed, Aisha.
Paper Book
This heart-wrenching novel explores what it is like to be thrust into an unwanted marriage. Has Naila's fate been written in the stars? Or can she still make her own destiny? Naila's conservative immigrant parents have always said the same thing- She may choose what to...

Pakistan | Pakistani-American author

Other names for love
Soomro, Taymour
Paper Book
Discover this hypnotic novel about a boy's life-changing summer: an unmissable read for fans of Damon Galgut, Brandon Taylor and Hisham Matar. On the train from Karachi, as dusk begins to fall, Fahad's dreams of his summer in London are fading. He is headed to Abad, the family...

Pakistan | Pakistani author

Balcony on the moon : a Palestinian coming of age memoir
Barakat, Ibtisam
Paper Book
Picking up whereTasting the Skyleft off, Balcony on the Moon follows Ibtisam Barakat through her childhood and adolescence in Palestine from 1972-1981 and chronicles her desire to be a writer. A Junior Library Guild Selection A Palestine Book Award...

Palestine | Palestinian author

Ishmael's Oranges
Hajaj, Claire.
Paper Book
  Shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize 2016 A finalist for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award 2015 It's April 1948, and war hangs over Jaffa. One minute seven-year-old Salim is dreaming of taking his first harvest from...

Palestine | Palestinian-British author

A little piece of ground
Laird, Elizabeth
Paper Book
A fifteenth-anniversary edition of this heart-stopping and sensitive exploration of the lives of children marred by conflict, from award-winning author Elizabeth Laird.Twelve year-old Karim Aboudi and his family are trapped in their Ramallah home by a strict curfew, where Israeli tanks...

Palestine | Co-written with Sonia Nimr, a Palestinian author

My heart underwater
Fantauzzo, Laurel Flores
Paper Book
Fans of Adib Khorram and Randy Ribay will love this coming-of-age debut about a Filipina American teen drowning under pressure and learning to trust her heart.  Corazon Tagubio is an outcast at the Catholic school she attends on scholarship. Her crush on her teacher, Ms....

Philippines | Filipina author

Bone talk
Gourlay, Candy
Paper Book

Philippines | Filipina author

The girl who fell to Earth : a memoir
Al-Maria, Sophia.
Paper Book
Award-winning filmmaker and writer Sophia Al-Maria's The Girl Who Fell to Earth is a funny and wry coming-of-age memoir about growing up in between American and Gulf Arab cultures. Part family saga and part personal quest, The Girl Who Fell to Earth traces Al-Maria's journey to make a place for...

Qatar | Qatari-American author

The green bicycle
Al-Mansour, Haifaa
Paper Book
Dreamer. Rebel. Hero. Wadjda has one simple wish - to race her friend Abdullah on her very own bicycle. But in Saudi Arabia, it is considered improper for girls to ride bikes and her parents forbid her from having one. Sick of playing by the rules, Wadjda schemes different ways to make...

Saudi Arabia | Saudi author

Lizard's tale
Chan, Weng Wai
Paper Book
t's Singapore in 1940, war is just around the corner-but twelve-year-old Lizard doesn't know that. He lives in Chinatown above a tailor's shop, surviving on his wits and hustling for odd jobs. When he steals a small teak box containing a Japanese code book from a Raffles Hotel suite, he...

Singapore | Singaporean-New Zealand author

I guess I live here now
Ahn, Claire
Paper Book
Seoul, Korea. In this glittering city where the latest trends are born, Melody finds herself swept away by luxury, romance, and family drama... but is this a place she could ever call home? Thanks to a tiny transgression after school one day, Melody is shocked...

South Korea | South Korean author

Cursed bunny
Chung, Bora
Paper Book

South Korea | South Korean author

The Noh family
Shim, Grace K.
Paper Book
A sparkling K-drama inspired debut teen novel by Grace Shim, THE NOH FAMILY introduces irrepressibly charming teen Chloe Kang, who is reunited with her deceased father's estranged family via a DNA test, and is soon whisked off to Seoul to join them... When her friends gift her a...

South Korea | South Korean-American author

The girl who wrote loneliness
Shin, Kyŏng-suk
Paper Book
Homesick and alone, a teenaged girl has just arrived in Seoul to work in a factory. Her family, still in the countryside, is too impoverished to keep sending her to school, so she works long, sunless days on a stereo-assembly line, struggling through night school every evening in order to achieve...

South Korea | South Korean author

Almond : a novel
Son, Wŏn-p'yŏng
Paper Book
A BTS fan favorite! A WALL STREET JOURNAL STORIES THAT CAN TAKE YOU ANYWHERE PICK * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S STAY HOME AND READ PICK * SALON'S BEST AND BOLDEST * BUSTLE'S MOST ANTICIPATED  The Emissary meets The Curious Incident of the Dog in the...

South Korea | South Korean author

Untethered
Inoon, Ayesha
Paper Book
HIGHLY COMMENDED - The ACT Book of the Year 2024 HIGHLY COMMENDED - ACT Literary Awards 2024, Fiction. Winner of the 2022 ASA/HQ Fiction Prize. A finely observed debut novel of a young Muslim woman's experience of immigration to Australia from Sri Lankan-Australian writer Ayesha...

Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan-Australian author

Ruins
Savanadasa, Rajith
Paper Book
'RUINS is a stirring and skilfully crafted debut, and Savanadasa's characters are so vividly drawn they feel like family. With his sharp and masterful observations of race, class and gender in the "new" Sri Lanka, Savanadasa takes his seat beside Omar Musa, Alice Pung and Michael Mohammed Ahmad...

Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan author

Funny boy : a novel in six stories
Selvadurai, Shyam
Paper Book
'An extraordinarily powerful, deeply moving novel' Amitav Ghosh NOW A MAJOR FILM ON NETFLIX In the world of his large family - affluent Tamils living in Colombo - Arjie is an oddity, a 'funny boy' who prefers dressing as a girl to playing cricket with his...

Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan author

In praise of hatred
Khalīfah, Khālid
Paper Book
Set against the 1980s backdrop of the violent confrontation between the Baath regime and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, this novel focuses on one prominent Aleppo family, and in particular, the young girl who narrates the story.

Syria | Syrian author

The astonishing color of after
Pan, Emily X. R
Paper Book
A Time Magazine 100 Best YA Books of All Time Selection A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng. Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When...

Taiwan | Taiwanese-American author

Want
Pon, Cindy
Paper Book
Jason Zhou survives in a divided society where the elite use their wealth to buy longer lives. The rich wear special suits, protecting them from the pollution and viruses that plague the city, while those without suffer illness and early deaths. Frustrated by his city's corruption and still grieving...

Taiwan | Taiwanese-American author

Loveboat, Taipei
Wen, Abigail Hing
Paper Book
Now a major movie, Love in Taipei, on Paramount+   "Exciting and authentic." Sabaa Tahir, New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes "Surprising, original and intelligent. An intense rush of rebellion and romance."...

Taiwan | Chinese-American author

Bangkok wakes to rain
Sudbanthad, Pitchaya
Paper Book

Thailand | Thai author

10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world
Shafak, Elif
Paper Book
'In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila's consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore. Her brain cells, having run out of blood, were now completely deprived of oxygen. But they did not shut down. Not right away...' For...

Turkey | Turkish author

The time of mute swans : a novel
Temelkuran, Ece
Paper Book
This timely, bestselling novel about a military coup in Turkey, told through the eyes of two children, resonates deeply with events there today. Ankara, the capital city in the heart of Turkey at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, East and West, is a hotspot in the Cold War, torn...

Turkey | Turkish author

The sand fish : a novel from Dubai
Gargash, Maha.
Paper Book
A novel of Dubai, The Sand Fish by Maha Gargash offers readers a fascinating glimpse into another corner of the world. Set in the 1950s in what is now the United Arab Emirates, The Sand Fish tells the poignant and powerful story of a rebellious young woman trapped in a repressive...

United Arab Emirates | Emirati author

Family style : memories of an American from Vietnam
Pham, Thien
Paper Book
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist Eisner Award Winner for Best Graphic MemoirAn NPR Best Books of 2023 A moving young adult graphic memoir about a Vietnamese immigrant boy's search for belonging in America, perfect for fans of American...

Vietnam | Vietnamese-American author

I am Nujood, age 10 and divorced
Ali, Nujood.
Paper Book
"I'm a simple village girl who has always obeyed the orders of my father and brothers. Since forever, I have learned to say yes to everything. Today I have decided to say no."   Nujood Ali's childhood came to an abrupt end in 2008 when her father arranged for her to be...

Yemen | Yemeni author


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