Diversity Spotlight~ Favorite Asian Authors
Over the past year, I have committed to diversifying my reading beyond the best sellers, and to seek out more diverse authors and storylines. I am focusing on including more Authors of Color, more stories surrounding a variety of cultures and religions, even more LGBTQ+ stories, and stories featuring characters with disabilities. Several times throughout each month, I’ll be featuring books or authors highlighting different experiences each time.
In light of the current fight against violence towards the Asian community in the US, I decided to use my first post to uplift some amazing Asian authors and to ask you to read their stories. While you’re at it, support your local Asian-owned small businesses. And stand up to the hate, so that together we can put a stop to the racism and violence and work to fix what’s broken in our society. #StopAsianHate #StopAAPIHate
Moving on to the positive. Today I wanted to feature some amazing Asian authors. This is by no means a complete list, but just a small selection, based on my personal shelves.
These are some of my favorite Asian authors whose books I have loved and can’t get enough of…
It started with Warcross for me, and then I moved on to the Legend series. And I heard her speak on a panel at YALLWEST in 2020. And now I want to read every book she’s ever written, because I’ve loved everything I’ve read.
Emergency Contact was amazing, and then I read Permanent Record which was a 5-star read for me. Now I want to read Yolk and am just waiting until I can get my hands on it.
The Kiss Quotient was one of the best debuts I have ever read and more than lived up to the hype that surrounds it. If you haven’t read this book yet (I need to read the rest of the series), do it now!
I really enjoyed American Panda and just picked up Our Wayward Fate and Rent a Boyfriend. I hope to get my reading groove back soon because I really want to get to them!
Toshikazu Kawaguchi
I’ve only read the one book so far, a translation of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, but I would love to read more!
I also want to give a shout out to the authors who are currently sitting on my shelves (or inside my Kindle), patiently waiting their turn in my ever growing TBR pile:
Jenny Han, David Yoon, Celeste Ng, Maureen Goo, S. Jae-Jones
Roselle Lim, Misa Sugiura, Jade Chang, Jia Pingwa, Pintip Dunn
Mariko Tamaki, Abigail Hing Wen, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Robin Ha, Amelie Wen Zhao
Malinda Lo, Lyla Lee, R.F. Kuang, Traci Chee
Lindsay Wong, Mike Chen, Courtney Milan
We should also mention some of the authors on my wishlist, whose books I haven’t acquired yet:
Lisa Ko, Suzanne Park, Jayci Lee, Jennifer Yen, Loan Le
Emiko Jean, Emily X.R. Pan
So buy these books or request them from the library, but support Asian authors.
Disclaimer: All covers link to The StoryGraph, all titles link to Bookshop.org, all names link to author’s site if available. I am not an affiliate for any of these sites and am not being compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I know I’m missing some great Asian Authors, who is missing from my list that I should add to my TBR?