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 April 25, 2024
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The secret sky : a novel of forbidden love in Afghanistan
Abawi, Atia.
An eye-opening, heart-rending tale of love, honor and betrayal from veteran foreign news correspodent Atia Abawi Fatima is a Hazara girl, raised to be obedient and dutiful. Samiullah is a Pashtun boy raised to defend the traditions of his tribe. They were not meant to fall in...

Afghanistan | Afghan-American author

In the sea there are crocodiles : the story of Enaiatollah Akbari
Geda, Fabio
What would you do if, when you were ten, you were left to fend for yourself, and, in order to survive, you had to undertake a harrowing journey all the way from Afghanistan to Italy?   In early 2002, Enaiatollah Akbari's village fell prey to the Taliban. His mother, fearing for...

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

Earth and ashes
Rahimi, Atiq.
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

Three apples fell from the sky
Abgari?a?n, Narine?
  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
In this graphic novel, 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. If only life was that simple. His father, known as Mr. Cement, is a builder in bed with the autocrats who run Yerevan, the...

Armenia | Armenian-American author

The good Muslim
Anam, Tahmima
"Delicate, heart-wrenching and poetic, this is a novel ofgreat poise and power." --Tash Aw, author of The Harmony Silk Factory Set in Bangladesh at a time when Islamic fundamentalism ison the rise, The Good Muslim is an epic story about faith, familyand the long shadow of war....

Bangladesh | Bangladeshi author

The henna wars
Jaigirdar, Adiba
"Impossible to put down." - Kirkus, starred review Nishat doesn't want to lose her family, but she also doesn't want to hide who she is, and it only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic, and Nishat falls for...

Bangladesh | Bangladeshi-Irish author

The love & lies of Rukhsana Ali
Khan, Sabina
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...

Bangladesh | Bangladeshi-Canadian author

In the shadow of the banyan
Ratner, Vaddey.
Told from the tender perspective of a young girl who comes of age amid the Cambodian killing fields, this searing first novel--based on the author's personal story--has been hailed by Little Bee author Chris Cleave as "a masterpiece...utterly heartbreaking and impossibly beautiful."

Cambodia | Khmer-American author

Year of the rabbit
Tian
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

First they killed my father : a daughter of Cambodia remembers
Ung, Loung.
One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was...

Cambodia | Khmer-American author

Freedom swimmer
Chim, Wai
A powerful story of friendship, bravery, and a desperate bid for freedom, inspired by true events. Ming survived the famine that killed his parents during China's "Great Leap Forward", and lives a hard but adequate life, working in the fields. When a group of city boys comes to the...

China | Chinese-American author

The three-body problem
Liu, Cixin.
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
A riveting memoir of a girl's painful coming-of-age in a wealthy Chinese family during the 1940s. A Chinese proverb says, Falling leaves return to their roots. In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and...

China | Chinese-American author

A hero born
Jin, Yong
The epic Chinese classic and phenomenon published in the US for the first time! Featured in iO9's 2019 Fall Preview. Set in ancient China, in a world where kung fu is magic, kingdoms vie for power and the battle to become the ultimate kung fu...

China | Chinese author

Hard by a great forest
Vardiashvili, Leo
NAMED ONE OF THE OBSERVER'S 10 BEST NEW NOVELISTS FOR 2024 "The stakes could barely be higher in Leo Vardiashvili's propulsive page-turner...It's a spellbinding achievement."--The Financial Times "Has a commercial-fiction spring in its step.......

Georgia | Georgian author

Thirst
Bajaj, Varsha
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

Night of the raven, dawn of the dove
Mehrotra, Rati
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.
Vikas Swarup's spectacular debut novel opens in a jail cell in Mumbai, India, where Ram Mohammad Thomas is being held after correctly answering all twelve questions on India's biggest quiz show, Who Will Win a Billion? It is hard to believe that a poor orphan who has never read a newspaper or gone...

India | Indian author

Beauty is a wound
Kurniawan, Eka
The epic novel Beauty Is a Wound combines history, satire, family tragedy, legend, humor, and romance in a sweeping polyphony. The beautiful Indo prostitute Dewi Ayu and her four daughters are beset by incest, murder, bestiality, rape, insanity, monstrosity, and the often vengeful undead. Kurniawan...

Indonesia | Indonesian author

Well, that was unexpected
Sutanto, Jesse Q
"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 ...

Indonesia | Indonesian author

The enlightenment of the greengage tree
Azar, Shokoofeh
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
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
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.
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
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's acclaimed graphic memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. "A wholly original achievement.... Satrapi evokes herself and her schoolmates coming of age in a...

Iran | Iranian author

The Baghdad clock
Ra?wi?, Shahd
Baghdad, 1991. A young Iraqi girl and her best friend find themselves living in war-torn Baghdad during the first Gulf War. Populated by a host of colourful characters, we share the two girls ' dreams, music, school life and first loves as they grow up in a city torn apart by civil war. And as the...

Iraq | Iraqi author

Frankenstein in Baghdad : a novel
Sa?da?wi?, Ah?mad
*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

Mother of strangers
Amiry, Suad
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR from NPR  * Set in Jaffa in between 1947 and 1951, this "fable-like historical novel of young love ... darkly humorous and touching" (Oprah Daily) is based on a true story during the beginning of the destruction of Palestine and displacement of its...

Israel | Israeli author

The cat who saved books : a novel
Natsukawa, So?suke
AN INDIE NEXT PICK! From the #1 bestselling author in Japan comes a celebration of books, cats, and the people who love them, infused with the heartwarming spirit of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles. Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the...

Japan | Japanese author

All my rage
Tahir, Sabaa
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

Wandering son. Volume one
Shimura, Takako
In the first of eight volumes, readers are introduced to fifth gradersShuichi Nitori and his new friend Yoshino Takatsuki. They have happy homes,loving families, and are well liked by their classmates. But they share a secretthat further complicates the already-complicated verge of puberty:...

Japan | Japanese author

Lonely castle in the mirror
Tsujimura, Mizuki
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER!  A Studio Ghibli-esque work of Japanese translation "that lays bare the anxieties and desperation--and the small triumphs--of adolescence" (Locus), for fans of Mieko Kawakami's Heaven. Seven students find unusual common ground in...

Japan | Japanese author

Everything sad is untrue : (a true story)
Nayeri, Daniel
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

Mama Hissa's mice : a novel
San?u?si?, Sa?u?d
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
Khoury, Elias.
Yalo propels us into a skewed universe of brutal misunderstanding, of love and alienation, of self-discovery and luminous transcendence. At the center of the vortex stands Yalo, a young man drifting between worlds like a stray dog on the streets of Beirut during the Lebanese civil war. Living with...

Lebanon | Lebanese author

We, the survivors
Aw, Tash
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...

Malaysia | Malaysian author

Black water sister
Cho, Zen
A finalist for the 2022 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel One of BookPage's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2021 One of Tor.com Reviewers' Choice Best Books of 2021 One of Book Riot's Best SFF Standalones of 2021 "Ghosts. Gods....

Malaysia | Malaysian author

The night tiger
Choo, Yangsze
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
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
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.

From the land of green ghosts : a Burmese odyssey
Thwe, Pascal Khoo
"A page-turner...deeply moving, beautifully written, and most inspiring. When I reached the last page, my heart was filled with joy and gratitude." -- Nien Chang, author of Life and Death in Shanghai An emotionally charged and lyrically written memoir about a remarkable odyssey from a...

Myanmar | Burmese author

The girl with seven names : a North Korean defector's story
Lee, Hyeonseo
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...

North Korea | North Korean author

Every falling star : the true story of how I survived and escaped North Korea
Lee, Sungju
Every Falling Star, the first book to portray contemporary North Korea to a young audience, is the intense memoir of a North Korean boy named Sungju who was forced at age twelve to live on the streets and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting,...

North Korea | North Korean author

Without you, there is no us : my time with the sons of North Korea's elite
Kim, Suki
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
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

Written in the stars
Saeed, Aisha.
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
A charged, hypnotic debut novel about a boy's life-changing summer in rural Pakistan: a story of fathers, sons, and the consequences of desire. At age sixteen, Fahad hopes to spend the summer with his mother in London. His father, Rafik, has other plans: hauling his son to...

Pakistan | Pakistani author

Balcony on the moon : a Palestinian coming of age memoir
Barakat, Ibtisam
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.

Palestine | Palestinian-British author

My heart underwater
Fantauzzo, Laurel Flores
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
Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal (UK)Shortlisted for the Costa Prize (UK)Sunday Times Children's Book of the WeekThe Guardian Book of the MonthThe Times Books of the Year"Hotly Anticipated Historical Fiction for Young Adults" Amazon.co.ukIt is 1899. Ten year old Samkad...

Philippines | Filipina author

Patron saints of nothing
Ribay, Randy
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST "Brilliant, honest, and equal parts heartbreaking and soul-healing." --Laurie Halse Anderson, author of SHOUT  "A singular voice in the world of literature." --Jason Reynolds, author of Long Way Down A...

Philippines | Filipino author

Lola : a ghost story
Torres, J.
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 girl who fell to Earth : a memoir
Al-Maria, Sophia.
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
In the vein of Year of the Dog and The Higher Power of Lucky, this Middle Eastern coming-of-age story is told with warmth, spirit, and a mischievous sense of humor Spunky eleven-year-old Wadjda lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with her parents. She desperately...

Saudi Arabia | Saudi author

I guess I live here now
Ahn, Claire
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
FINALIST FOR THE 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN TRANSLATED LITERATURE A wildly original debut from a rising star of Korean literature--surreal, chilling fables that take on the patriarchy, capitalism, and the reign of big tech with absurdist humor and a (sometimes...

South Korea | South Korean author

The Noh family
Shim, Grace
This sparkling K-drama inspired debut novel introduces irrepressibly charming teen Chloe Chang, 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 23-and-Me test as a gag, high...

South Korea | South Korean-American author

The girl who wrote loneliness
Sin, Kyo?ng-suk
The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness is a stark and lyrical work that follows a teen-aged girl who has just arrived in Seoul to work in a factory while struggling to achieve her dream of finishing school and becoming a writer. Shin sets the this complex and nuanced coming of age story against the backdrop...

South Korea | South Korean author

Almond : a novel
Son, Wo?n-p'yo?ng
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

Funny boy : a novel
Selvadurai, Shyam
Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Deepa Mehta--coming to Netflix December 10, 2020! An evocative coming-of-age novel about growing up gay in Sri Lanka during the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict--one of the country's most turbulent and deadly periods. Arjie is "funny." ...

Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan author

In praise of hatred
Khali?fah, Kha?lid
In 1980s Syria, a young Muslim girl lives a secluded life behind the veil in the vast and perfumed house of her grandparents. Her three aunts-the pious Maryam, the liberal Safaa, and the free-spirited Marwa-raise her with the aid of their ever-devoted blind servant. Soon the high walls of...

Syria | Syrian author

The astonishing color of after
Pan, Emily X. R
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
"Fresh, compelling--and timely." --Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Carve the Mark and the Divergent series "Vividly conjured...positively chilling." --The New York Times "Spectacular." --Buzzfeed Set in a...

Taiwan | Taiwanese-American author

Loveboat, Taipei
Wen, Abigail Hing
An instant New York Times bestseller and Indie bestseller! Now adapted for the screen! Catch Love in Taipei, starring Ashley Liao (Physical, Fresh Off the Boat), Ross Butler (To All the Boys I've Loved Before franchise, Shazam!), Nico Hiraga (Booksmart), and Chelsea Zhang (Daybreak), now...

Taiwan | Chinese-American author

Bangkok wakes to rain : a novel
Sudbanthad, Pitchaya
"Recreates the experience of living in Thailand's aqueous climate so viscerally that you can feel the water rising around your ankles." --Ron Charles, Washington Post "Important, ambitious, and accomplished." --Mohsin Hamid, New York Times bestselling author of Exit...

Thailand | Thai author

10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world
Shafak, Elif
Shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize Named a Best Book of the Year by Bookpage, NPR, Washington Post, and The Economist A moving novel on the power of friendship in our darkest times, from internationally renowned writer and speaker Elif Shafak.<...

Turkey | Turkish author

Family style : memories of an American from Vietnam
Pham, Thien
A moving young adult graphic memoir about a Vietnamese immigrant boy's search for belonging in America, perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and The Best We Could Do! Thien's first memory isn't a sight or a sound. It's the sweetness of watermelon and the...

Vietnam | Vietnamese-American author

The mountains sing : a novel
Nguye??n, Phan Que?? Mai
The International Bestseller A New York Times Editors' Choice Selection A Winner of the 2020 Lannan Literary Awards Fellowship A Best Book of 2020: NPR's Book Concierge * PopMatters * Washington Independent...

Vietnam | Vietnamese author

I am Nujood, age 10 and divorced
Ali, Nujood.
"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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