New Fiction and Nonfiction to Read This AAPI Heritage Month

In the U.S., May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, dedicated to celebrating the culture, history, and contributions of those with Asian and Pacific Island backgrounds.
 
In honor of the monthlong celebration, we’ve put together this collection of recent fiction and nonfiction books from authors around the globe with Asian and Pacific Islander heritage. These are books published since the beginning of 2025 and through early May 2026. This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list, but rather a sampling of interesting books to discover, across genres.
 
For instance, if you’re in the market for an innovative riff on the haunted house story, consider Kylie Lee Baker’s Japanese Gothic, which combines elements of horror and historical fiction with interesting details on sword ferns. Canwen Xu’s subversive thriller Boring Asian Female explores the dark side of academic overachieving. And fans of cerebral sci-fi will want to check out The Subtle Art of Folding Space, a debut novel about generational trauma and particle physics from Hugo-winning short fiction author John Chu.
 
On the nonfiction shelf, Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy delivers an intimate memoir on family with Mother Mary Comes to Me. Light and Thread is the first collection of nonfiction writings from Nobel Prize winner Han Kang. And Sarah Chihaya writes about the enduring power of books themselves in Bibliophobia. (Chihaya also introduces the useful term “Life Ruiners” for books so good they kind of mess up your whole thing.)
 
Finally, if you’ve ever wondered about the boyfriend potential of sentient plops of goo, don’t miss Maggie Su’s delightful debut from early last year, Blob.
 
Click on the book covers to learn more about each title, and be sure to add the ones that pique your interest to your Want to Read shelf!