10 new books by Asian authors to read this AAPI month, from memoir to romance
Every May, we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, and that means it's the perfect time to read new titles by AAPI authors.
Though this year's AAPI month comes amid the Trump administration's unrelenting offensive against diversity initiatives, film and media leaders continue to speak about the importance of representation.
'I'm DEI until I D-I-E,' said 'Never Have I Ever' star Poorna Jagannathan at this year's Gold Gala in Hollywood. And in publishing, diversity needs to be a priority at 'every level,' bestselling romance author Ana Huang told USA TODAY earlier this month.
New releases by AAPI authors to read this AAPI Month
From eerie dystopian to poignant memoirs and chance-encounter romances, this list of 2025 releases from Asian authors has something for every reader. Here's what we recommend:
'Saving Five' by Amanda Nguyen
She's been in the headlines for more than just her time on the Blue Origin spaceflight this year. Astronaut Ngueyn's memoir tells the story of her activism in conversations with her younger selves, including when her life changed forever after she was raped at Harvard University in 2013. Her survival and advocacy led to Congress unanimously passing the Survivors' Bill of Rights Act of 2016.
'Time Loops & Meet Cutes' by Jackie Lau
Reminiscent of 'Groundhog Day,' this romance novel finds a woman reliving the same Friday over and over again after she eats dumplings that are supposed to give her 'what she needed most.' To complicate matters more, she falls for a good-looking brewery owner who appears in multiple places in her repeating day, but not remembering her the next time it starts again.
'Dirty Kitchen' by Jill Damatac
This memoir by filmmaker Damatac takes us through her time growing up in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant, then traveling to her native Philippines and London to pursue an education at the University of Cambridge. 'Dirty Kitchen' combines colonial history, Indigenous tradition and Filipino cooking as Damatac searches for identity, tradition and comfort through food.
'The Girls of Good Fortune' by Kristina McMorris
'Sold on a Monday' author McMorris returns with a historical fiction novel about a woman disguised as a man who is 'shanghaied' – drugged and taken to an underground cell with the intent of being forced into labor. As she retraces her steps, she realizes how she got there, including a violent, anti-Chinese massacre that killed her father and the young daughter she left behind.
'Audition' by Katie Kitamura
'Audition' is a literary study of the performances and masks we put on for those who think they know us best. In it, an accomplished actress and an attractive younger man meet for lunch. Her husband walks in. The dynamic between the three is ambiguous, but as two parallel narratives unfurl, readers search for who this younger man is: Is he her long-lost son? Her lover? A yearning student?
'Spiral' by Bal Khabra
The author of hockey romance novel "Collide" returns with another "Off the Ice" story. "Spiral" follows Toronto Thunder hockey player and paparazzi magnet Elias Westbrook and Sage Beaumont, an aspiring ballerina. A fake relationship might just be what Sage needs for her shot in the spotlight and what Elias needs to get the tabloids off his back.
'Mỹ Documents' by Kevin Nguyen
'Mỹ Documents" is a timely and important dystopian novel about four young half-siblings whose paths diverge when the government begins forcibly detaining Vietnamese Americans. While two siblings are interned and forced to work, cut off from the outside world, the other two are exempt and work to expose the horrors of the camps.
'We Do Not Part' by Han Kang
The author of the Booker Prize-winning 'The Vegetarian' returns with the story of two friends during a reckoning with a period of hidden Korean history. Kyungha receives an urgent message from her friend Inseon that she's been injured in an accident and begs Kyungha to save her pet while she's hospitalized. Kyungha gets caught in a terrible, blinding snowstorm, arriving at Inseon's house only to realize there's something even darker awaiting.
'Vera Wong's Unsolicited Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)' by Jesse Q. Sutanto
If you loved Sutanto's first Vera Wong mystery, check out the anticipated sequel. The meddling teahouse owner is feeling a bit bored after her high-stakes investigation into a murder in her shop, but then a chance encounter with a distressed young woman leads her to another rookie investigation into the death of an enigmatic influencer.
'When Devils Sing' by Xan Kaur (out May 27)
This YA Southern Gothic horror novel follows four unlikely allies investigating a local teen's disappearance. As Neera, Isaiah, Reid and Sam investigate Dawson Sumter's bloody disappearance, they uncover that the nearby rich community may be harboring a power that connects to an ancient urban legend about three devils.
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Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.
Contributing: KiMi Robinson
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