Finding Books by Asian American and Pacific Islander Authors

04/30/24 Asian & Pacific Islander, Authors

Here are five tips to help you find books written by Asian and Pacific Islander authors, including a convenient list of authors linked directly to our catalog for placing requests or checking out e-books or audiobooks.

1. Read an award winner.

Make a selection from some of the most distinguished honors in literature. 

• The Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature has been awarded by the Asian/Pacific American Library Association since 2005. They currently give awards for Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Young Adult Literature, Children’s Literature, and Picture Books.  
• Awarded from 1998 to 2012, the Asian American Literary Award was hosted by the Asian American Writer’s Workshop.  

2. Get reading recommendations from Library staff.

Click on a book list to get started! 

Browse more of our staff created lists:

• Asian and Pacific Island Cookbooks
• Asian Comics Aren’t Just Manga
• Fiction Originally Written in an Asian Language
• Fiction Originally Written in Korean
• Fiction Written by Malaysian Authors
• If You Liked…Once Upon a K-Prom
• Japanese Crime Novels
• Korean Cooking Beyond Kimchi Fried Rice
• LGBTQ+ Manga Artists
• Picture Books Highlighting the Cultures of Asia
• Remembering Japanese American Incarceration During World War II
• Windows into Burma

3. Discover a new author by browsing through a literary magazine. 

Literary magazines are an excellent way to acquaint yourself with new literary communities. Check out the literary magazines below and if you find an author you like, see if they have additional work in our catalog.  

• Lantern Review is a literary journal dedicated to Asian American poetry. While the journal stopped publishing in 2022, their past issues are still available for folks to read online.  
• Bamboo Ridge Press is a literary journal that publishes fiction and poetry related to the people of Hawai’i. While current issues are available for purchase, the archives can be browsed on the University of Hawai’i’s website for free. 
• Jaggery, named after an unrefined dark brown sugar used throughout the South Asian diaspora, publishes poetry, fiction, and essays by South Asian authors.   
• The Margins is a literary magazine published by the Asian American Writer’s Workshop. They feature “poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, critical essays, reportage, translations, interviews, and experimental and hybrid-genre work.” 

4. Use your Library card to log into Novelist Plus. 

On Novelist Plus you’ll find recommendations, read-a-likes, series lists, reviews, and lists of award-winning books. You can search books by the author’s cultural identity, including Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Hmong or dig a little deeper and search by nationality, like Indian or Vietnamese. Be sure to use the “Check Availability” feature to see if a specific book is available to borrow from IndyPL!  

5. Asian & Pacific Islander Authors