To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, here are some Asian American authors to check out.
Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston is an American novelist and a Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Kingston has written three critically acclaimed novels and several works of non-fiction that have strengthened the understanding of Asian American identity, helping to shape our national conversation about culture, gender, and race.
Read more about Maxine Kingston Here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/maxine-hong-kingston
Carlos Bulosan
Carlos Bulosan was a Filipino novelist, poet, and activist who immigrated to the United States in the 1930’s. He is best remembered for his semi-fictional, semi-autobiographical novel America Is In the Heart — a staple in American Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies classes since it’s publishment in the 40’s.
Read more about Carlos Bulosan here: https://content.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/bulosan/index.html
Helen Zia
Helen Zia is an award winning Chinese American journalist and activist for Asian American and LGBTQ+ rights. Her involvement and organization of the Asian American movement during Vincent Chin’s murder in the 80’s prompted officials to act on behalf of an Asian American in a civil rights case for the first time in U.S. history.
Read more about Helen Zia here: https://www.mocanyc.org/collections/stories/helen-zia/
Viet Thanh Nguyen
Viet Thanh Nguyen is a Vietnamese American novelist and Professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. In 2016, Nguyen won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for his novel The Sympathizer – a profound story of a man of two minds, someone whose political beliefs clash with his individual loyalties. His book is being made into a movie in 2024.
Read more about Viet Nguyen here: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2017/viet-thanh-nguyen
What other Asian American or Pacific Islander authors do you enjoy reading? Let us know in the comments!
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