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 April 29, 2026
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Happy : a novel
Baljeet Basra, Celina
Paper Book
"Leaping, chattering, dancing atop this conundrum [of global migration] comes the hero of Celina Baljeet Basra's debut novel, Happy Singh Soni, his head bursting with ideas, his heart set on gargantuan dreams." --New York Times "Bighearted." --New York Times Book...

2023

Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
Bo-reum, Hwang/ Tan, Shanna (TRN)
Paper Book
Every Day I Read, a new work from Hwang Bo-reum for book-lovers, available now INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER * NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER INDIE NEXT PICK * Debutiful Most Anticipated Book of 2024 * Powell's Pick of the Month * A...
Everything I learned, I learned in a Chinese restaurant : a memoir
Chin, Curtis
Paper Book
This poignant memoir tells the story of Curtis Chin's time growing up as a gay Chinese American kid in 1980's Detroit. "Vivid, moving, funny, and heartfelt" --Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers Nineteen eighties Detroit was a...

2023

The fox wife : a novel
Choo, Yangsze
Paper Book
Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . . Manchuria, 1908. In the last years of the dying...
Daughters of Shandong
Chung, Eve J.
Paper Book
A propulsive, extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters' harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China, by debut author Eve J. Chung, based on her family story An Instant USA Today Bestseller, a Good Morning America Buzz Pick,...
A living remedy : a memoir
Chung, Nicole
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK Winner, Tillie Olsen Award for Creative Writing Named a Best Book of the Year by: Time * Harper's Bazaar * Esquire * Booklist * USA Today * Elle * Good Housekeeping * New York Times * Electric Literature * Today From the bestselling author...

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,...

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

Hijab butch blues :
H, Lamya.
Paper Book
A queer hijabi Muslim immigrant survives her coming-of-age by drawing strength and hope from stories in the Quran in this "raw and relatable memoir that challenges societal norms and expectations" (Linah Mohammad, NPR). "A masterful, must-read contribution to conversations on...
The stone home : a novel
Kim, Crystal Hana
Paper Book
"It is a privilege to read Crystal Hana Kim's fiction, which both edifies and enlightens." --Min Jin Lee A hauntingly poetic family drama and coming-of-age story that reveals a dark corner of South Korean history through the eyes of a small community living in a reformatory...
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
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...
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

The Chinese groove : a novel
Ma, Kathryn
Paper Book
Winner of the Silver Medal for the California Book Award for Fiction Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Prize Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice An Amazon Editors' Pick People, A Best Book of the Year...

2023

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

Dust child : a novel
Nguy??n, Phan Qué? Mai
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. From the bestselling author of The Mountains Sing, a richly poetic and suspenseful saga about two Vietnamese sisters, an American veteran, and an Amerasian man whose lives intersect in surprising ways, set during and after the...
A man of two faces : a memoir, a history, a memorial
Nguyen, Viet Thanh
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD The highly original, blistering, and unconventional memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer, which has now sold over one million copies worldwide With insight, humor, formal invention, and lyricism,...

2023

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

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

They called us enemy
Takei, George
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller! Discover this award-winning masterpiece before the release of George Takei's deeply personal follow-up, It Rhymes With Takei (June 2025). A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within...
Banyan Moon : a novel
Thai, Thao
Paper Book
A TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick "A riveting mother-daughter tale." -- Elle "Radiant. ... An intimate account of one family's planting of roots in American soil and the sacrifices great and small that each member makes along the way." -- Washington Post A...

2023

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 ...
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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