May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, a time to recognize, discuss, and celebrate the many contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to our society and culture. The MIT Libraries’ Committee for the Promotion of Diversity & Inclusion decided to reach out to the staff of the MIT Libraries and MIT Press to ask for recommendations of favorite titles by Asian/Pacific American authors and filmmakers held in the Libraries’ collections. Here are some of the results:
Films:
9-Man directed by Ursula Liang
Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi directed by Neal Broffman
Saving Face directed by Alice Wu
Graphic Novels:
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Nonfiction:
Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America by Vivek Bald
Part Asian, 100% Hapa portraits by Kip Fulbeck
The Girl at the Baggage Claim by Gish Jen
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee
Nothing Ever Dies by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Eurasian by Emma Teng
Novels:
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
In the Pond by Ha Jin
Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
This is a Bust by Ed Lin
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The Hundred Year Flood by Matthew Salesses
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Plays:
The Who & the What by Ayad Akhtar
Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them by A. Rey Pamatmat
We’re Gonna Die by Young Jean Lee
Poetry:
Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
Camp Notes and Other Poems by Mitsuye Yamada
Queer Heartache by Kit Yan
Short Stories:
In the Country by Mia Alvar
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Video by Meera Nair
See more recommended titles – and their covers! – on Pinterest.
