#aapi writers

Photo courtesy of the lovely @EssaHansen of The Graven trilogy (which you should check out). Tis a blessing to be featured for AAPI month on this shelf with such brilliant and wonderful authors.

We are dedicated to promoting, celebrating, and supporting our Asian American and Pacific Islander creators, readers, and community. Below, check out some incredible books by our AAPI creators to read all year round.

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim

When Anna’s not looking after her brother and sister or helping out at her father’s restaurant, she’s taking care of her mother, whose debilitating mental illness keeps her in bed most days. When her mother finally gets out of bed, things go from bad to worse. And as her mother’s condition worsens, Anna and her family question everything they understand about themselves and each other.

Zara Hossain is Here by Sabina Khan

Seventeen-year-old Pakistani immigrant Zara Hossain’s family has waited years for their visa process to be finalized so that they can officially become US citizens. But it only takes one moment for that dream to come crashing down around them.

K-Pop Confidential by Stephan Lee

In this romantic coming-of-age novel, a Korean American girl travels to Seoul in hopes of debuting in a girl group at the same K-pop company behind the most popular boy band on the planet. 

I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn

When Kimi visits her grandparents in Japan, she is relieved to escape her problems back home. But soon the trip becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies.

Caster & Spell Starter by Elsie Chapman

Aza Wu knows that real magic is dangerous and illegal. After all, casting killed her sister. But to save the legacy of their family teahouse, she enters an underground casting tournament and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

Rukhsana is finding it impossible to live up to her conservative Muslim parents’ expectations. Luckily, it’s only a few more months until her new life at Caltech. But when her parents catch her kissing her girlfriend, all of Rukhsana’s plans fall apart.

Lovely, Dark, and Deep by Justina Chen

🌱 Writer Spotlight 🌱 Iris Jong is an illustrator and writer based in San Francisco. She is a cofounder of Comic Arts Los Angeles, an annual indie comics festival. 

Status: I came across this book via work and decided to add it to my pile of to-read. Since I'm on a mission to read as many nonfiction books by Southeast Asians as possible, I've started on this book, alternating between the printed book when I'm free and listening to the audiobook when my hands are not free. I'm only maybe 1/6 of the way there, page 62 of 384.

Thoughts: This feel like a traditional family memoir. Weaving in her parents' history, unpacking their trauma, and beginning to reveal the specific details that have deepened the divide between her mother and her.

From the author's site:

In June 2001, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto went to Hiroshima in search of a deeper understanding of her war-torn heritage. She planned to spend six months there, interviewing the few remaining survivors of the atomic bomb. A mother of two young boys, she was encouraged to go by her husband, who quickly became disenchanted by her absence.

It is her first solo life adventure, immediately exhilarating for her, but her research starts off badly. Interviews with the hibakusha feel rehearsed, and the survivors reveal little beyond published accounts. Then the attacks on September 11 change everything. The survivors’ carefully constructed memories are shattered, causing them to relive their agonizing experiences and to open up to Rizzuto in astonishing ways.

Separated from family and country while the world seems to fall apart, Rizzuto’s marriage begins to crumble as she wrestles with her ambivalence about being a wife and mother. Woven into the story of her own awakening are the stories of Hiroshima in the survivors’ own words. The parallel narratives explore the role of memory in our lives, and show how memory is not history but a story we tell ourselves to explain who we are.

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For anyone interested in a perspective on the Hiroshima bombings from Literally Anyone Besides The People Who Did It, I'd definitely recommend this book at least as a starting point. It does a really good job of balancing personal narrative with careful testimonies from the Hiroshima bombings from a wide array of perspectives, all while balanced with an exploration of post-Hiroshima Japan in the early aughts.

There's some truly beautiful language that dances across the line between poetry and prose, showing a dedication to the craft of writing, creating, feeling, and knowing that I really admire and respect. There's also a lot of fascinating stuff about the way different people come to terms with trauma and change, and the messy work that comes with believing in peace when the war never seems to fucking stop, all shit that feels as relevant now as it ever has

🌠Writer Spotlight🌠 Sarahlynn Pablo is a Filipinx writer of the diaspora based in Chicago by way of Quezon City and La Union, Philippines. Sarahlynn is a co-founder of Filipino Kitchen, a food media and events group whose mission is to help Filipinos understand themselves, their community and their history through our delicious cuisine. She is an organizer, poet, cook, and an alumna of the University of Pittsburgh, Northwestern University, and Voices Of Our Nations (VONA), the only workshop for writers of color.

Follow Sarahlynn online 🌠🌠 instagram / twitter And follow Filipino Kitchen 🌠🌠 website / instagram / twitter / facebook