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.