Celebrate the Lunar New Year with 14 Books by Asian American Writers

Wildly different sisters Jayne and June Baek have been avoiding each other for years. Then June is diagnosed with cancer and finds herself reaching out to her estranged little sister for support. Through screaming fights, calculated jabs, and laugh-out-loud moments, we watch their relationship evolve into something resembling sisterhood. Emotional and multilayered, Yolk is a heartfelt story about the messy, complicated power of family in the face of the unknown. 

K-Ming Chang brings her poet’s voice to this visceral, bold, and crackling debut. Tackling the traditions of myths and oral history, Bestiary follows the perspectives of three generations of Taiwanese American women, illustrating the evolving nature of storytelling and its influence on who we become. Ultimately a novel of family, Bestiary is full of strangely beautiful prose that makes for a powerfully transformative and unforgettable read. 

While we’d prefer Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series never end, we’ll accept this sweet and endearing conclusion to Lara Jean’s saga, simply because it’s that good. Han’s writing is pitch-perfect, with characters that feel like old friends and relationships that feel real. This beloved series is required reading for fans of contemporary romance and anyone looking for that warm, fuzzy feeling in their heart.

First published thirty years ago by a then-unknown Chinese American author, Amy Tan’s incandescent and often very funny debut novel, The Joy Luck Club, is a timeless story of mothers and daughters, family mythology and tough decisions, love and forgiveness, food and Mah Jong. Chinese American women everywhere saw themselves and their cousins and mothers, aunties, and grandmothers everywhere in the pages of The Joy Luck Club, the New York Times bestseller turned modern American classic that launched the career of a beloved writer. 

No longer a spy, no longer a sleeper agent, the unnamed narrator from Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning debut novel The Sympathizer, lands in 1981 Paris as a refugee with his Blood Brother in The Committed, a new literary thriller with elegant echoes of Graham Greene and John le Carré. This is a story of what happens at the moment between before and after. This is a story of obligation and assimilation. This is a propulsive narrative driven by money, drugs, and geopolitics, written by one of the most incisive, clever, and darkly comic writers of our generation. 

A journey of self-discovery and adventure from one of the great novelists of our time. Set in multiple periods, My Year Abroad is the story of Tiller as a young, naïve college student who discovers both the joys and sometimes bleak realities of the world on a life-changing trip. If you are looking for a good, enjoyable book where the pages just fly by — read this! 

In the shadow of war, teenager Maika Halfwolf shares a psychic connection with a powerful monster. Confronting issues of trauma and racism with a cast of powerful and nuanced women, this series remains among the most visually stunning books on the stands. Inspired by East Asian history and aesthetics, the evolving story and rich art never cease to amaze readers with each new volume.

This gripping and spectacular debut collection of stories traces the journeys of diverse Chinese people. And how their history and government have influenced their present. Switching between sharp, clear-eyed realism and often witty, magical realism, Chen’s stories paint a portrait of a people striving to move forward. With years of experience reporting on the ground in China, Te-Ping Chen proves herself not only an extraordinary cultural critic but a remarkable new literary voice to watch. 

Generic Asian man, Willis Wu, yearns to be something more than what life has laid out for him and strives to do just that throughout Interior Chinatown. Yu has a poet’s voice that lends a lyrical quality to Wu’s heartfelt journey to become Kung Fu Guy, and at the same time, paints a symbolic and sharp portrait of the Asian American experience. This sharp satire also won the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. “The lacerating humor in Interior Chinatown never skips a beat.”—Jeff VanderMeer, author of Annihilation

The Burning God is the thrilling end to The Poppy War trilogy, R. F. Kuang’s award-winning epic fantasy that gracefully blends the history of 20th century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters. The Poppy War was the book that started it all and was even a B&N Discover Pick back in 2018. Tor.com called it “A complex, sprawling, ambitious novel, part coming of age and part tragedy of power.” And if you’re already a fan of Kuang, don’t miss the forthcoming Babel, coming August 2022.

OK, if you follow/ed Bobby Kim, a.k.a. Bobby Hundreds, on The Hundreds blog or on social media, you know he is funny and smart and serious about building community and a BIG reader himself. But if you do not already know Bobby, you might not know how awesome this book is. It is a skater coming-of-age to a punk soundtrack, a story of hard work and tough choices and creative growth. It is a story of family and mentors and finding your tribe. Part memoir, part business story, pure LA.

Epic in scope while intimate in detail, C Pam Zhang’s story of two siblings in a gold rush mining town beautifully blends Chinese symbolism with reimagined history. Exploring issues of race in an expanding country, questions of belonging and home are at the heart of this outstanding debut. “This novel is at once a thrilling adventure, a tender coming-of-age story, an excavation of the corrosive myth-making surrounding the American west, and the arrival of a major literary talent.” —Esquire

Choi’s work gives us pause to think that more poets should do the work of historians. In the clarity of words, we understand what happened “before” and how it affects “now.” “Choi’s hybrid structure allows her, in some sense, to have it both ways — to look at her subjects while simultaneously, and paradoxically, showing that some subjects are just too big to see in full” (Kathleen Rooney, author of Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey). Personal, political, and poetic — a perfect trio, making DMZ Colony a touching book of poetry. 

As the winner of the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award, a 2006 National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature, this book helped elevate and define graphic novels as a literary force. This stunning modern fable tells the story of three unrelated characters: Jin Wang, the only Chinese American student at his new school, the great Monkey King, and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype. Together, these stories make a powerful statement about racism, the American dream, and staying true to yourself.