Asian Authors with Debut Books being Released in 2022
Since May is Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month, I wanted to show appreciation for asian authors. I decided to showcase debut books being released this year. If you have followed me for a while, you probably know how important having more diverse rep in books is for me. As someone of mixed race, I grew up not having anyone in stories or on book covers who look like me. Because of this, I think everyone deserves to see characters who look like them. Here are debut book releases by asian authors in 2022.
Released Books by Asian Authors
Sara Sharaf Beg
Sara Sharaf Beg was inspired by her own experiences as a Pakistani American Muslim while writing Salaam, with Love, her debut novel. A graduate of the University of Central Florida and Northwestern University, Sara was a freelance writer before becoming a mental-health counselor. She lives in Texas with her husband, where she likes to cook (the spicier, the better!), binge Bollywood movies, and play video games when she’s not writing or reading.
Author Website | Twitter | Instagram
Akshaya Raman
Akshaya Raman fell in love with writing when she wrote her first story at the age of ten. Though she graduated from UC Davis with a degree in biology, she gave up pursuing a career in science to write books. She is a co-founder and contributor to Writer’s Block Party, a group blog about writing and publishing, and has served on the planning teams of several book festivals. She lives in the Bay Area with an actual scaredy cat, and in her free time, she enjoys baking, traveling, and watching too much reality TV.
Author website | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest
Sue Lynn Tan
Sue Lynn Tan writes fantasy novels inspired by the myths and legends she fell in love with as a child. Her debut, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, will be published by Harper Voyager in January 2022 -inspired by the beloved Chinese legend, of Change flying to the moon upon taking the elixir of immortality.
Author Website | Twitter | Instagram
Vanessa Len
Vanessa Len is an Australian author of Chinese-Malaysian and Maltese heritage. An educational editor, she has worked on everything from language learning programs to STEM resources, to professional learning for teachers. Vanessa is a graduate of the Clarion Workshop in San Diego, and she lives in Melbourne.
Author Website | Instagram | Twitter
Judy I. Lin
Judy I. Lin was born in Taiwan and immigrated to Canada with her family at a young age. She grew up with her nose in a book and loved to escape to imaginary worlds. She now works as an occupational therapist, and still spends her nights dreaming up imaginary worlds of her own. She lives on the Canadian prairies with her husband and daughter. A Magic Steeped in Poison is her debut novel.
Author Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram
Grace D. Li
Grace D. Li grew up in Pearland, Texas, and is a graduate of Duke University, where she studied biology and creative writing. She currently attends Stanford University School of Medicine. Her debut novel, Portrait of a Thief, was an instant New York Times bestseller and is in development at Netflix, with Grace serving as an executive producer for the series.
Author Website | Twitter | Instagram
Grace K. Shim
Grace grew up in Tulsa Oklahoma as one of two Korean-Americans at her high school (her sister was the other one). Today, Grace writes books with Korean-American protagonists that she wished she had read about as a teen. When she’s not plotting (the writing kind, not the world domination kind), you can find her wearing a Korean sheet mask, baking French macarons, and unintentionally killing house plants & succulents. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and three kids.
Author Website | Instagram | Twitter
Ann Sei Lin
Ann Sei Lin is a writer and librarian with a love for all things fantasy. Though London is now her home, she spent several years living and working in Chiba, Japan. When not writing, she is often studying, gaming, or trying to make that origami rabbit for the one hundredth time.
Author Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram
Future Releases by Asian Authors
Amy Lea
Amy Lea is a Canadian bureaucrat by day and contemporary romance author by night (and weekends). She writes laugh out loud romantic comedies featuring strong heroines, witty banter, mid-2000s pop culture references, and happily ever afters. When Amy is not writing, she can be found fan-girling over other romance books on Instagram, eating potato chips with reckless abandon, and snuggling with her husband and goldendoodle.
Author Website | Twitter | Instagram
Chelsea Abdullah
Chelsea Abdullah is an American-Kuwaiti writer born and raised in Kuwait, where she grew up listening to stories about mysterious desert creatures and wily (only sometimes likable) heroes. Consumed by wanderlust, she has put down roots in various states. After earning her MA in English at Duquesne University, she moved to New York, where she currently lives. When not immersed in her own fictional worlds, she spends her free time playing video games, doodling characters, and hoarding books she doesn’t have the shelf space for.
Author Website | Twitter | Instagram
Neither here nor there, but long ago…
Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp that has the power to revive the barren land—at the cost of sacrificing all jinn.
With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan’s oldest son to find the artifact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen, and confront a malicious killer from Loulie’s past. And, in a world where story is reality and illusion is truth, Loulie will discover that everything—her enemy, her magic, even her own past—is not what it seems, and she must decide who she will become in this new reality.
Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, The Stardust Thief weaves the gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, a cowardly prince, and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a legendary, magical lamp.
Claire Ahn
Claire Ahngrew up in Seoul, Korea and still considers it her home. She moved to New York to attend university and now lives in Long Island City with her husband, newborn daughter, and their dog, Dante. She writes about transcultural experiences and the traditions, values, and legacies that shape who we are.
Instagram | Twitter
A journey to the place where trends are born–Seoul, Korea–where Melody Lee unwillingly moves with her family and must start a new life, a new school…and maybe a new romance.
Melody always wanted to get to know the Korean side of her Korean American heritage better, but not quite like this. Thanks to a tiny transgression after school one day, she’s shocked to discover that her parents have decided to move her and her mom out of New York City to join her father in Seoul–immediately! Barely having the chance to say goodbye to her best friend before she’s on a plane, Melody is resentful, angry, and homesick.
But she soon finds herself settling into their super luxe home, meeting cool friends at school, and discovering the alluring aspects of living in Korea–trendsetting fashion, delectable food, her dad’s black card, and a cute boy to hang out with. Life in Seoul is amazing…until cracks begin to form on its shiny surface. Troubling family secrets, broken friendships, and a lost passion are the prices Melody has to pay for her new life, but is it worth it?
Namrata Patel
Namrata Patel is an Indian-American writer who lives in Boston. Her writing examines diaspora, dual-cultural identity among Indian-Americans and explores this dynamic while also touching on both—the family’s we’re born with and those we choose. Namrata has lived in India, Spokane, London, and New York City. Namrata has been writing for most of her adult life and loves creating characters who are relatable and aspirational. Her heroines range from quiet to kick-ass and her heroes are swoon-worthy, if a little flawed.
Author Website | Twitter | Instagram
Meet Meena Dave: photojournalist, world traveler, and ultimate nomad.
For Meena, it is safer to observe the world through the lens of her camera. She has no family, no permanent address, and apart from one college friend absolutely no long-term attachments beyond her professional contacts. But Meena’s world is turned upside down when she unexpectedly inherits an apartment in a Victorian brownstone in the historic neighborhood of Back Bay Boston.
Thinking this unexpected turn of events could help her land a prestigious assignment, Meena decides to use her well-honed journalistic instincts to follow the story that landed her in the apartment of a stranger. It’s a mystery that comes with a series of hidden clues, a trio of meddling Aunties, a strikingly handsome next-door neighbor, and a connection to her past that she never—ever expected. Throughout her investigation she learns how to make the perfect chai, forms friendships she never thought were possible, and confronts her own need to run as soon as the going gets good.
As Meena learns the secrets of the apartment and her past, she’ll have to reconcile her desire to keep the world at a distance, and the unmistakable yearning for something more.
XiXi Tian
Yuxi 'XiXi' Tian is an attorney at Google by day and a writer by night. She emigrated from China when she was a year old, and grew up in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, on which Margaret and Annalie's town is based. Before working at Google, Yuxi attended Harvard Law School, and for a brief period dabbled with the idea of becoming a literary agent. She now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and cat.
Author Website | Twitter | Instagram
Two sisters. A shocking racist incident. The summer that will change both of their lives forever.
Despite having had near-identical upbringings, sisters Annalie and Margaret agree on only one thing: that they have nothing in common. Nineteen-year-old Margaret is driven, ambitious, and keenly aware of social justice issues. She couldn’t wait to leave their oppressive small-town home and take flight in New York. Meanwhile sweet, popular, seventeen-year-old Annalie couldn’t think of anything worse – she loves their town, and feels safe coasting along in its confines.
That is, until she arrives home one day to find a gut-punching racial slur painted on their garage door.
Outraged, Margaret flies home, expecting to find her family up in arms. Instead, she’s amazed to hear they want to forget about it. Their mom is worried about what it might stir up, and Annalie just wants to have a ‘normal’ summer – which Margaret is determined to ruin, apparently.
Back under each other’s skins, things between Margaret and Annalie get steadily worse – and not even the distraction of first love (for Annalie), or lost love (for Margaret) can bring them together.
Until finally, a crushing secret threatens to tear them apart forever.
Naz Kutub
Naz was born and raised in Singapore, and currently resides in Los Angeles, but constantly wonders why because the sun is his greatest enemy. He is pretty sure his ADHD is his superpower and believes it is the only thing stopping him from becoming a supermodel. That, and his unhealthy obsession with fried chicken. Oh, and there’s also this whole writing thing he can’t seem to shake off.
Author Website | Twitter | Instagram
Your wish is granted! This YA debut is equal parts broken-hearted love story, epic myth retelling, and a world-journey romp to find home.
Sy is a timid seventeen-year-old queer Indian-Muslim boy who placed all his bets at happiness on his boyfriend Farouk…who then left him to try and “fix the world.” Sy was too chicken to take the plunge and travel with him and is now stuck in a dead-end coffee shop job. All Sy can do is wish for another chance…. Although he never expects his wish to be granted.
When a mysterious girl slams into (and slides down, streaks of make-up in her wake) the front entrance of the coffee shop, Sy helps her up and on her way. But then the girl offers him three wishes in exchange for his help, and after proving she can grant at least one wish with a funds transfer of a million dollars into Sy’s pitifully struggling bank account, a whole new world of possibility opens up. Is she magic? Or just rich? And when his father kicks him out after he is outed, does Sy have the courage to make his way from L. A., across the Atlantic Ocean, to lands he’d never even dreamed he could ever visit? Led by his potentially otherworldly new friend, can he track down his missing Farouk for one last, desperate chance at rebuilding his life and re-finding love?
Sunya Mara
Sunya Mara grew up in six different cities across five different states and now calls Los Angeles home. She studied film and business at the University of Southern California and went on to write and illustrate at Kobe Bryant’s Granity Studios. When not telling stories, she spends her time haunting old movie theaters and staring at museum walls.
Author website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
In this thrilling and epic YA fantasy debut the only hope for a city trapped in the eye of a cursed storm lies with the daughter of failed revolutionaries and a prince terrified of his throne.
Vesper Vale is the daughter of revolutionaries. Failed revolutionaries. When her mother was caught by the queen’s soldiers, they gave her a choice: death by the hangman’s axe, or death by the Storm that surrounds the city and curses anyone it touches. She chose the Storm. And when the queen’s soldiers—led by a paranoid prince—catch up to Vesper’s father after twelve years on the run, Vesper will do whatever it takes to save him from sharing that fate.
Even arm herself with her father’s book of dangerous experimental magic.
Even infiltrate the prince’s elite squad of soldier-sorcerers.
Even cheat her way into his cold heart.
But when Vesper learns that there’s more to the story of her mother’s death, she’ll have to make a choice if she wants to save her city: trust the devious prince with her family’s secrets, or follow her mother’s footsteps into the Storm.
Anna Gracia
Anna grew up biracial in the Midwest, spending her formative years repeatedly answering the question “What are you?” Before finding her way as a young adult author, she was a CPA, a public school teacher, a tennis coach, and for one glorious summer, a waitress at a pie shop. She now lives on the West Coast, raising three kids and writing stories about girls navigating a world full of double standards.
Author website | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok
A high school senior navigates messy boys and messier relationships in this bitingly funny and much-needed look into the overlap of Asian American identity and teen sexuality.
June Chu is the “just good enough” girl. Good enough to line the shelves with a slew of third-place trophies and steal secret kisses from her AP Bio partner, Rhys. But not good enough to meet literally any of her Taiwanese mother’s unrelenting expectations or to get Rhys to commit to anything beyond a well-timed joke.
While June’s mother insists she follow in her (perfect) sister’s footsteps and get a (full-ride) violin scholarship to Northwestern (to study pre-med), June doesn’t see the point in trying too hard if she’s destined to fall short anyway. Instead, she focuses her efforts on making her relationship with Rhys “official.” But after her methodically-planned, tipsily-executed scheme explodes on the level of a nuclear disaster, she flings herself into a new relationship with a guy who’s not allergic to the word “girlfriend.”
But as the line between sex and love blurs, and pressure to map out her entire future threatens to burst, June will have to decide on whose terms she’s going to live her life—even if it means fraying her relationship with her mother beyond repair.
Gina Chen
Gina Chen tells stories about fantastic worlds featuring heroines, antiheroines, and the kind of cleverness that brings trouble in its wake. A self-taught artist with a degree in computer science, she generates creative nonsense in all forms of media and always has a project stewing.
Author website | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr | Goodreads
A darkly enchanting fantasy debut about a morally gray witch, a cursed prince, and a prophecy that ignites their fate-twisted destinies—perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince and Serpent & Dove.
Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip Violet of her official role once he’s crowned at the end of the summer—unless Violet does something about it.
But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom—all depending on the prince’s choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice: Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that’s growing between her and Cyrus.
Violet’s wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom—or doom them all.
Naseem Jamnia
Naseem Jamnia (they/them) is a Persian-Chicagoan, former scientist, and fiction MFA graduate from the University of Nevada, Reno. Their work has appeared in The Washington Post, Bitch Media, Cosmopolitan, The Rumpus, The Writer's Chronicle, and other venues. A Lambda Literary, Otherwise, and the inaugural Samuel R. Delany Fellow, Naseem is the managing editor at Sword & Kettle Press, and their debut novella, The Bruising of Qilwa, will be released from Tachyon Publications in 2022.
Author website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
In this intricately layered debut fantasy, a nonbinary refugee practitioner of blood magic discovers a strange disease causing political rifts in their new homeland. Persian-American author Naseem Jamnia has crafted a gripping narrative with a moving, nuanced exploration of immigration, gender, healing, and family.
Firuz-e Jafari is fortunate enough to have immigrated to the Free Democratic City-State of Qilwa, fleeing the slaughter of other traditional Sassanian blood magic practitioners in their homeland. Despite the status of refugees in their new home, Firuz has a good job at a free healing clinic in Qilwa, working with Kofi, a kindly new employer, and mentoring Afsoneh, a troubled orphan refugee with powerful magic.
But Firuz and Kofi have discovered a terrible new disease which leaves mysterious bruises on its victims. The illness is spreading quickly through Qilwa, and there are dangerous accusations of ineptly performed blood magic. In order to survive, Firuz must break a deadly cycle of prejudice, untangle sociopolitical constraints, and find a fresh start for their both their blood and found family.
Powerful and fascinating, The Bruising of Qilwa is the newest arrival in the era of fantasy classics such as the Broken Earth Trilogy, The Four Profound Weaves, and Who Fears Death.
Tanvi Berwah
Tanvi Berwah is a South Asian writer with a deep love of the stars, the ocean, and the weird. She graduated from the University of Delhi with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Literature of English, and always found ways to fit in The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones in her academic life. A history and space enthusiast, she would’ve loved to be an astronomer, had her lack of mathematical skills allowed it.
Author website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Tumblr | Goodreads
She grew up battling the monsters that live in the black seas, but it couldn’t prepare her to face the cunning cruelty of the ruling elite.
Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Fable, this South Asian-inspired fantasy is a gripping debut about the power of the elite, the price of glory, and one girl’s chance to change it all.
Sixteen-year-old Koral and her older brother Emrik risk their lives each day to capture the monstrous maristags that live in the black seas around their island. They have to, or else their family will starve.
In an oceanic world swarming with vicious beasts, the Landers―the ruling elite, have indentured Koral’s family to provide the maristags for the Glory Race, a deadly chariot tournament reserved for the upper class. The winning contender receives gold and glory. The others―if they’re lucky―survive.
When the last maristag of the year escapes and Koral has no new maristag to sell, her family’s financial situation takes a turn for the worse and they can’t afford medicine for her chronically ill little sister. Koral’s only choice is to do what no one in the world has ever dared: cheat her way into the Glory Race.
But every step of the way is unpredictable as Koral races against contenders―including her ex-boyfriend―who have trained for this their whole lives and who have no intention of letting a low-caste girl steal their glory. When a rebellion rises and rogues attack Koral to try and force her to drop out, she must choose―her life or her sister’s―before the whole island burns.
Susan Lee
Susan Lee has built a career as a Human Resources executive at successful startups such as Spotify and Warby Parker. Her biggest job takeaway: we are all, for the most part, ridiculous. And she channels this into her writing of light-hearted, quirky novels about the oftentimes hilarious human condition. Susan is a 2018 PitchWars alum, a 2019 & 2020 PitchWars mentor, a 2019 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® winner, and an avid K-pop and K-drama fan. Her bias is V/Taehyung, which for those in the know, explains it all.
Author website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The last person Hannah wants to see is her former best friend, Jacob. Until blackmail and a bucket list, along with two meddling mamas, push them together for a summer worthy of a K-drama…
Hannah Cho had the next year all planned out—the perfect summer with her boyfriend, Nate, and then a fun senior year with all of their friends.
But then Nate does what everyone else in Hannah’s life seems to do—he leaves her, claiming they have nothing in common. He and all her friends are newly obsessed with K-pop and K-dramas, and Hannah is not. After years of trying to embrace the American part and shunning the Korean side of her Korean American identity to fit in, Hannah finds that’s exactly what now has her on the outs.
But someone who does know K-dramas—so well that he’s actually starring in one—is Jacob Kim, Hannah’s former best friend, whom she hasn’t seen in years. He’s desperate for a break from the fame and someone to trust, so a family trip back to San Diego might be just what he needs…that is, if he and Hannah can figure out what went wrong when they last parted and navigate the new feelings developing between them.
Catherine Yu
Catherine Yu writes dark speculative fiction. She was born in Nanjing and is now based in New York. She is a graduate of Odyssey Writing Workshop. Direwood is her debut novel.
Author website
Aja and Fiona live in Glen Hills, a small town plagued by a mysterious fog. At night it rains black stones and a pair of vampires roams the town. With so many perils lurking in the night, everyone in town observes a curfew. But when her older sister disappears, Aja follows a vampire through the fog and into the forest to find her.
There, Aja discovers the vampires’ lair in a ruined church, filled with her former classmates, most of them turned into enthralled servants. Now Aja, along with her friend Nico and ex-BFF Mary, must face their own differences and work together to escape. But while Aja tries to find and save her friends, her sister, and herself, she must also come to terms with her own secret truth: she’s fascinated by the very monster who lured her in.
Sophie Kim
Sophie Kim spends her days both studying psychology at her university and writing her novels, which are strongly influenced by her firm belief that diversity and non-stereotypical representation in literature are vastly important. Blessed (or cursed) with a voracious appetite for all things bookish, Sophie can usually be found curled up with a precariously balancing stack of stories.
Author Website | Twitter | Instagram
In this thrilling and unique fantasy based on Korean legend, a teen assassin has to save her gang’s leader when he gets abducted by a cunning immortal goblin emperor.
Ann Liang
Ann Liang is an undergraduate at the University of Melbourne. Born in Beijing, she grew up travelling back and forth between China and Australia, but somehow ended up with an American accent. When she isn’t stressing out over her college assignments or writing, she can be found making over-ambitious to-do lists, binge-watching dramas, and having profound conversations with her pet labradoodle about who’s a good dog.
Author website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
“Utterly unique, thought-provoking, and wonderfully written… a thrilling ride that hooked me from start to finish.” —Gloria Chao, author of American Panda and Rent a Boyfriend
In this genre-bending YA debut, a Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmates’ most scandalous secrets.
Alice Sun has always felt invisible at her elite Beijing international boarding school, where she’s the only scholarship student among China’s most rich and influential teens. But then she starts uncontrollably turning invisible—actually invisible.
When her parents drop the news that they can no longer afford her tuition, even with the scholarship, Alice hatches a plan to monetize her strange new power—she’ll discover the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, for a price.
But as the tasks escalate from petty scandals to actual crimes, Alice must decide if it’s worth losing her conscience—or even her life.
Maya Prasad
Maya Prasad is a South Asian American author, a Caltech graduate, and a former software engineer. She currently resides in the Pacific Northwest, where she enjoys hiking, canoeing, and raising her budding bookworm kiddo. Her YA debut Drizzle, Dreams, and Lovestruck Things will be published by Disney-Hyperion in fall 2022. Sejal Battles Super Storms is the first in her chapter book series to be published by S&S/Aladdin in spring 2023. Maya has also had short fiction published in Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA, Cast of Wonders, and Voyage YA. She is passionate about creating brown girl leads in children’s literature.
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It’s hard enough for the four Singh sisters to balance their big dreams and bigger personalities while navigating the bustle of their father’s inn on Orcas Island. But when a stream of new guests inspires unrequited crushes and secret ambitions, the sisters gear up for an unforgettable year.
FALL: Ever-practical Nidhi never wanted to break any hearts. Everything was in place: a steady boyfriend and summer plans at an elite pastry school in Paris. Then a handsome construction worker and a longing for her homeland rattle her sense of complacency.
WINTER: A girl of (too?) many talents, Avani is finally focusing on one thing: planning a ball to honor a family member. But blizzards and cheese platters send her cross-country skiing straight into the arms of a boy—the one she’s been avoiding since she accidentally flaked on their date.
SPRING: Shy Sirisha wishes she could talk to girls, but she’s always felt safest hiding behind her camera. When a traveling theater troupe brings a pretty thespian into the picture, Sirisha flounders with bad pickup lines and too-pink lipstick.
SUMMER: Hopeless romantic Rani is ecstatic when not one, not two, but THREE potential boyfriends arrive at the inn. If only flowers and over-the-top romantic gestures could help her decide who to bring to the Songbird Inn’s event of the year.
Four sisters, four seasons…and plenty of breathtaking kisses in the Northwest drizzle.
Susan Azim Boyer
Susan Azim Boyer writes young adult fiction featuring Iranian American heroines (whom she *never* encountered growing up), who make messy, complicated choices that rapidly snowball into avalanches. She lives in the Palm Desert area with her husband, Wayne, and her Pug mix, Teddy. Her son, Alec, lives in New York.
Author website | Twitter | Instagram
It’s 1979, and Jasmine Zumideh is ready to get the heck out of California and immerse herself in New York City’s exploding music scene. With NYU her dream school and journalism her intended major, she’s been obsessed with the East Coast the past four years.
There’s just one teeny problem: Due to a deadline snafu, she’s maaaaaaybe said she’s Senior Class President-Elect on her application—before the election takes place. But honestly, she’s running against Gerald Thomas, a rigid rule follower whose platform includes reinstating a dress code—so there’s no way she can lose. And she better not, or NYU will rescind her application.
But then, a group of students in Iran, fed up with the U.S.’s interference in Iranian politics, takes the American Embassy in Tehran—and the people within it—hostage. The Iran Hostage Crisis dominates the news, and suddenly, as an Iranian-American, Jasmine’s life becomes about a lot more than typical high school drama.
Fixated on her goals, Jasmine decides to downplay her heritage to win the election. But her brother, Ali, has become increasingly vocal about the U.S.’s toxic relationship with Iran. And Gerald’s empty campaign promise to “help” bring the hostages home (sure, good luck with that) has students suddenly sympathetic to his campaign. Now Jasmine is stuck between claiming her heritage or hiding it, standing by her brother or turning her back, winning the election or abandoning her dreams for good.
Told with biting insight and fierce humor, Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win is a fresh, unforgettable story of one Iranian-American young woman’s experience as she navigates her identity, a budding romance, friendship, family, and her future, all set against life-changing historical events with present-day relevance.
Deeba Zargarpur
Deeba Zargarpuris an Afghan-Uzbek American. She credits her love of literature across various languages to her immigrant parents, whose eerie tales haunted her well into the night. If given the choice, Deeba would spend her days getting lost in spooky towns with nothing but a notebook and eye for adventure to guide her.
Author Website | Twitter | Instagram
Taking inspiration from the author’s own Afghan-Uzbek heritage, this contemporary YA debut is a breathtaking journey into the grief that lingers through generations of immigrant families, and what it means to confront the ghosts of your past.
Struggling to deal with the pain of her parents’ impending divorce, fifteen-year-old Sara is facing a world of unknowns and uncertainties. Unfortunately, the one person she could always lean on when things got hard, her beloved Bibi Jan, has become a mere echo of the grandmother she once was. And so Sara retreats into the family business, hoping a summer working on her mom’s latest home renovation project will provide a distraction from her fracturing world.
But the house holds more than plaster and stone. It holds secrets that have her clinging desperately to the memories of her old life. Secrets that only her Bibi Jan could have untangled. Secrets Sara is powerless to ignore as the dark truths of her family’s history rise in ghostly apparitions–and with it, the realization that as much as she wants to hold onto her old life, nothing will ever be the same.
Told in lush, sweeping prose, this story of secrets, summer, and family sacrifice will chill you to the bone as the house that wraps Sara in warmth of her past becomes the one thing she cannot escape…
So this is my list of asian authors with debut book releases this year and most of the books above look very interesting. Many are already on my TBR list! Any of these debut books by asian authors on your TBR list? Let me know in the comments below!
