Asian American & Pacific Islander Literature

In May, we celebrate the vital contributions of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Explore this collection to find texts related to AAPI history and culture, including works by Ted Chiang, C Pam Zhang, and Ha Jin, among others.

Minor Feelings

by Cathy Park Hong

Publication year 2020

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Gender Identity, Daughters & Sons

Tags Race & Racism, Social Justice, Relationships, Gender & Feminism, American Literature, Korean Literature, Women`s Studies, Asian Literature, Biography

... Read Minor Feelings Summary

Modern Romance

by Aziz Ansari

Publication year 2015

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Sociology, Humor, Psychology, Psychology, Relationships, Romance

Aziz Ansari’s Modern Romance, published in 2015, is a nonfiction work that combines statistics, interviews, and comedy to explore the current landscape of dating in the modern age. Ansari is an actor and comedian, as well as a writer. He got his start on television in the role of Tom Haverford in Parks and Recreation, which ran on NBC. He starred in Human Giant and went on to perform in several movies. His first comedy... Read Modern Romance Summary

My Year of Meats

by Ruth Ozeki

Publication year 1998

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Beauty

Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Japanese Literature, Food

My Year of Meats is a contemporary novel of literary fiction which focuses on the American meat industry, global capitalism, sex and gender, and artmaking. Written by Booker Prize-nominee Ruth L. Ozeki and published in 1998, the novel won the 1998 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize. This guide refers to the 1999 Penguin paperback edition of the text. Plot Summary Jane Takagi-Little, a Japanese American documentarian living in New York City in 1991, gets a phone call... Read My Year of Meats Summary

Native Speaker

by Chang-rae Lee

Publication year 1995

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Language, Race, Grief, Truth & Lies

Tags Asian Literature, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Asian Literature, Classic Fiction

Native Speaker (1995) by Chang-rae Lee is an immensely popular novel that jumpstarted Chang-rae Lee’s illustrious career as a novelist. The novel won the PEN/Hemingway Award for Best Novel, and it is still included in contemporary lists of best novels about New York City. Chang-rae Lee teaches creative writing at Stanford University and has since published numerous bestsellers, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Surrendered. Native Speaker criticizes American culture’s pressure on immigrants and ethnic... Read Native Speaker Summary

Never Fall Down

by Patricia McCormick

Publication year 2012

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes War, Grief

Tags Military & War, Realistic Fiction, World History, Historical Fiction, Action & Adventure

The 2012 novel Never Fall Down is based on the true story of Arn Chorn-Pond, an eleven-year-old Cambodian boy who is taken from his town and becomes a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge, a radical Communist regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979.Arn’s journey takes him from his hometown of Battambang, Cambodia, through four years of forced labor and fighting for the Khmer Rouge as a child soldier, to a refugee camp in Thailand, and... Read Never Fall Down Summary

New from Here

by Kelly Yang

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Forgiveness, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Hope, Love, Shame & Pride, Appearance & Reality, Environment, Place, Equality, Justice, Order & Chaos, Power & Greed, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Science & Technology, Safety & Danger, Race, Mothers, Siblings, Daughters & Sons, Fathers, Friendship, Marriage, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Social Class, Community, Nation, Regret

Tags Race & Racism, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read New from Here Summary

Omar Rising

by Aisha Saeed

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Education, Social Class, Community, Self Discovery, Justice

Tags Children`s Literature, Education, Education, Modern Classic Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age, Social Justice, Race & Racism

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On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

by Ocean Vuong

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Grief

Tags LGBTQ+, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction

Raised by his mother, Rose, and his grandmother, Lan, Little Dog grows up in a lower working-class neighborhood of Hartford, Connecticut, beginning in the early 90s. Troubled by loss and abuse, Little Dog, at age 28, decides to write a letter to his illiterate mother, using it as a method of exorcising his demons, exploring the loss and trauma that shaped his and his family’s lives, and the love and beauty that defines their lives... Read On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Summary

On Such A Full Sea

by Chang-rae Lee

Publication year 2014

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family

Tags Asian Literature, Korean Literature, Science Fiction, Fantasy

On Such A Full Sea is a 2014 novel by Chang-Rae Lee that explores themes of alienation, wealth, greed, ecology, freedom, and survival. The book is set in the future. America has fallen from grace. Society is strictly stratified into three classes. There are the Charter villages, which house the richest and most elite families. Then, there are the long-abandoned urban neighborhoods, which have been repurposed as high walled, self-contained labor colonies. Finally, there are... Read On Such A Full Sea Summary

Pachinko

by Min Jin Lee

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Mothers

Tags Historical Fiction, Asian Literature, Korean Literature, Asian Literature, World History, Japanese Literature

Pachinko, written by Min Jin Lee (Free Food for Millionaires) and published in 2017, is the story of five generations of a Korean family living in both Korea and then later Japan from 1910 to 1989. Pachinko was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2017. In Book 1, “Gohyang/Hometown 1910-1933,” the opening setting is the village of Yeongdo, Korea. The reader is introduced to the first generation of the family, the... Read Pachinko Summary

Persimmons

by Li-Young Lee

Publication year 1986

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Fathers, Language, Immigration, Objects & Materials, Memory, Childhood & Youth, Love, Food

Tags Lyric Poem, Ekphrastic, Free Verse, Relationships, Immigration & Refugeeism, Arts & Culture, Confessional, Asian Literature

... Read Persimmons Summary

Picture Bride

by Yoshiko Uchida

Publication year 1987

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Forgiveness, Femininity, Race, Immigration

Tags Historical Fiction, Japanese Literature, Education, Education, US History, Asian Literature, Classic Fiction

... Read Picture Bride Summary

Picture Us in the Light

by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Publication year 2018

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Grief, Guilt, Hope, Self Discovery, Community, Art, Truth & Lies, Friendship

Tags Realistic Fiction, LGBTQ+, Coming of Age, Arts & Culture, Depression & Suicide, Grief & Death, Mental Illness, Modern Classic Fiction

Picture Us in the Light is a young adult novel written by Kelly Loy Gilbert and published in 2018 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Gilbert is the author of three young adult novels, all of which focus on the young Asian American experience. Picture Us in the Light is written in the first-person perspective of protagonist Danny Cheng, but Gilbert includes flashbacks to China to connect Danny to a past his parents have... Read Picture Us in the Light Summary

Prairie Lotus

by Linda Sue Park

Publication year 2020

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Friendship, Coming of Age, Community, Race, Fathers, Daughters & Sons, Perseverance, Mothers

Tags Historical Fiction, Children`s Literature, Race & Racism, Colonialism & Postcolonialism, World History, Arts & Culture

... Read Prairie Lotus Summary