30 Canadian books to celebrate Asian Heritage Month
May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada. Throughout the month and beyond, CBC Books is highlighting books across many genres by writers of East Asian, South Asian, Western, Central and Southeast Asian descent.
Death by a Thousand Cuts by Shashi Bhat
Death by a Thousand Cuts traces the funny, honest and difficult parts of womanhood. From a writer whose ex published a book about their breakup to the confession wrought by a Reddit post, these stories probe rage, loneliness, bodily autonomy and these women's relationships with themselves just as much as those around them.
Shashi Bhat's previous novels include The Family Took Shape, a finalist for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and The Most Precious Substance on Earth, which was also a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction in 2022. Her short stories won the Writers' Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize and have been shortlisted for a National Magazine Award and the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. Bhat lives in New Westminster, B.C.
Reuniting with Strangers by Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio
When five-year-old Monolith arrives from the Philippines to join his mother in Canada he lashes out, attacking her and destroying his new home in the linked short story collection Reuniting with Strangers. The characters in Reuniting with Strangers are all dealing with feelings of displacement and estrangement caused as a result of migrating to Canada seeking opportunity.
Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio is a Filipina-Canadian author, speaker and school board consultant who builds bridges between educators and Filipino families. She was the runner-up in the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award recognizing Asian authors in the Canadian Diaspora. Austria-Bonifacio was on the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize longlist.
The Secret of the Ravens by Joanna Cacao
In The Secret of the Ravens, orphan twins Elliot and Liza take part in Raven Quests — magical tasks that award coins and riches as offered by message-carrying ravens, to change their fate. However, the quests aren't as straightforward as they seem, and when Liza gets poisoned, Elliot must race against time to save her.
The Secret of the Ravens is for ages 8 to 12.
Joanna Cacao is a Canadian-Filipino writer and illustrator who lives in Winnipeg. Her other projects include illustrating The Tryout and Native Reflections. The Secret of the Ravens is her debut graphic novel.
The Double Life of Benson Yu by Kevin Chong
The Double Life of Benson Yu recounts the difficult adolescence of the titular character growing up in a housing project in 1980s Chinatown. The story takes a metafictional twist, when Yu's grip on memory and reality falters. The unique structure provides a layered and poignant look into how we come to terms with who we are, what happened to us as children, and that finding hope and healing lies in whether we choose to suppress or process our experiences.
Chong is a Vancouver-based writer and associate professor at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. The Double Life of Benson Yu was on the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist. His other books include the nonfiction book Northern Dancer and fiction titles like The Plague and Beauty Plus Pity. He was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Nonfiction Prize.
Stray Dogs by Rawi Hage
The characters in Stray Dogs are restless travellers, moving between nation states and states of mind, seeking connection and trying to escape the past. Set in Montreal, Beirut, Tokyo and more, these stories highlight the often random ways our fragile modern identities are constructed, destroyed and reborn.
Stray Dogs was on the 2022 shortlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Rawi Hage is a Montreal-based writer. His books include De Niro's Game, which won the International Dublin Literary Award in 2008; Cockroach, which received the Hugh MacLennan Prize for fiction, was defended by Samantha Bee on Canada Reads in 2014, and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award; Carnival, which was a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize; and Beirut Hellfire Society, which was on the shortlist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction.
The Invisible Hotel by Yeji Ham
Amid her family's on-going struggles — a brother stationed at the North Korean border, a sister in tragedy, her mother's health waning — Yewon has constant dreams of The Invisible Hotel. In it, there are infinite keys to infinite rooms. As Yewon struggles with feeling trapped in her tiny South Korean village, her dreams lead her to a disarming truth about her country and its collective heritage.
The Invisible Hotel is out now.
Yeji Y. Ham is a Korean Canadian writer who lives in B.C. Her previous works have appeared in journals such as Wilderness Journal, The Rivet Journal and The Broome Street Review. Part of her first short story collection Doraesol won the Frances Mason Harris' 26 Prizes in Fiction.
We Meant Well by Erum Shazia Hasan
We Meant Well is a novel that poses a difficult moral dilemma for its protagonist, Maya, an aid worker who must decide who to believe when her coworker at the orphanage, Marc, is accused of assaulting her former protégé, Lele. Caught between worlds with protests raging outside the orphanage, Maya must also balance the fate of the organization against the accusations. Navigating around these variables provides both challenge and insight as the complexity of the situation reveals the character of everyone involved.
Hasan is a Toronto-based writer and a sustainable development consultant for various UN agencies. We Meant Well is her debut novel.
Behind You by Catherine Hernandez
Alma's life as a film editor for a corny true crime series with her wife and teenage son seems comfortable and safe. But when Infamous' latest episode features the Scarborough Stalker — who terrorized Alma's own neighborhood when she was a girl — Alma realizes what she's long held in around consent to stop her young son from making terrible choices toward his own girlfriend. Unfolding in two timelines, Behind You challenges and dissects rape culture and champions one girl's resilience into adulthood.
Catherine Hernandez is a Canadian writer, author and playwright. She is the author of several books, including the novels Scarborough and Crosshairs and the children's books I Promise, M is for Mustache and Where Do Your Feelings Live?. She is also the creator and star of the Audible Original sketch comedy podcast Imminent Disaster. Scarborough was championed by actor Malia Baker on Canada Reads 2022. It was also adapted into a feature film that premiered at TIFF in 2021. CBC Books named her a writer to watch in 2017.
A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur
A Crane Among Wolves takes place in Joseon in 1506, under the tyrannical reign of Yeonsan, a king hellbent on torturing the land, the women and burning books within the kingdom. After her older sister, Suyeon is captured by the king, Iseul leaves the comforts of her village to defy the capital and save her sister. Meanwhile, Prince Daehyun, the king's half-brother is staging a risky coup to dethrone him and save the people. When Iseul and Daehyun meet, they begrudgingly join forces to take down their common enemy.
June Hur is a South Korea-born writer based in Toronto. Her other novels include The Forest of Stolen Girls, The Silence of Bones and The Red Palace.
Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin
Much Ado About Nada is about Nada Syed, who is almost 30 and still living at home with her parents. She dreams of making her app Ask Apa into a tech success, but her parents are focused on her finding a partner and getting married. Her best friend Haleema wants things to turn around for Nada and thinks there's no better place to do that than at a large Muslim conference downtown. But when Nada finds out Haleema's fiance Zayn and his brother Baz will be there, she knows she can't go. No matter what. Why? Because her and Baz have history.
Uzma Jalaluddin is a teacher, parenting columnist and author based in Ontario. She is also the author of Ayesha At Last and Hana Khan Carries On.
Something More by Jackie Khalilieh
Something More is a YA romance following 15-year-old Jessie Kassis' first year of high school. Jessie is a Palestinian-Canadian girl who is coming to terms with her autism diagnosis all the while trying to make friends, get a spot in the school play and get her first kiss. When she catches the attention of two boys at Holy Trinity High, Jessie discovers more about who she is and what she truly wants.
Jackie Khalilieh is a Palestinian-Canadian writer currently based near Toronto. Something More is her debut YA novel.
Maya's Laws of Love by Alina Khawaja
Maya's life has always been guided by a series of rules, always rooted in misfortune: Maya's Laws of Love. Chiefly, that anything that can, will in fact go wrong. Things seem to be looking up when Maya sets off for Pakistan for an arranged marriage to a handsome doctor, a match she's all too happy to accept. But when disaster strikes at every turn, Maya finds herself stuck in Switzerland with a cynical lawyer, Sarfaraz, wondering if this detour is exactly what she needs after all.
Alina Khawaja is a Canadian Pakistani writer who lives in Ontario. She holds degrees in English, history, creative writing and literatures of modernity. Maya's Laws of Love is her first novel.
The Catch by Amy Lea
When influencer Melanie Karlsen finds herself in a rural fishing village on Canada's east coast, she's taken aback by the burly and grumpy bed-and-breakfast owner Evan Whaler in the romance novel The Catch. Weren't Canadians supposed to be nice? After a boating accident sends Evan to the hospital, his family mistakes Melanie for his fiancée. The two strike up a deal: she'll fake their engagement for one week if Evan helps her create some social media content.
Amy Lea is an Ottawa-based contemporary romance writer and Canadian bureaucrat. Her previous novels include Woke Up Like This, which was on the Canada Reads 2024 longlist, Exes and O's and Set on You.
Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee
Fonda Lee's newest fantasy epic Untethered Sky is about the lengths we go to for the ones we love, even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice. When Ester's mother and brother are killed by a manticore, she becomes obsessed with finding a way to bring justice and some semblance of peace to what's left of her family. Her quest leads her to the King's Royal Mews where she pairs up with a roc, a flying beast known to hunt manticores, in order to participate in the hunt. The journey could cost Ester her life, but there's no turning back now.
Fonda Lee is a Canadian American science fiction and fantasy writer. Lee is a three-time Aurora Award winner, including best novel for Jade City and best YA novel for Exo. Jade City also won the World Fantasy Award in 2018.
Dispersals by Jessica J. Lee
Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging is a collection of 14 essays that use the global world of flora to examine how the lives of plants and human beings intersect and connect with each other. Blending memoir, scientific research and history, Jessica J. Lee interrogates displacement, identity and belonging to explore the movement and evolution of individuals and plant species across borders.
Lee is a British Canadian Taiwanese author and environmental historian. She won the 2020 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the 2021 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature and the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writer Award. She is the author of Turning and Two Trees Make a Forest.
Unearthing by Kyo Maclear
After Kyo Maclear's father dies, a DNA test shows that she is not biologically related to the father that raised her. Maclear embarks on a journey to unravel the family mystery and uncover the story of her biological father, raising questions about kinship and what it means to be family in Unearthing.
Maclear is an essayist, novelist and children's author. Her books have been translated into 15 languages, won a Governor General's Literary Award and been nominated for the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, among others. Her memoir Birds Art Life was a finalist for the 2017 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and won the 2018 Trillium Book Award.
archipelago by Laila Malik
archipelago is a collection of lyrical poems exploring family dynamics and self-identity in the face of multigenerational migration, particularly in the regions of North America, the Arabian Gulf, East Africa and Kashmir.
Laila Malik is a writer living in Adobigok, the traditional land of Indigenous communities that include the Anishinaabe, Seneca, Mohawk Haudenosaunee, and Wendat. archipelago is her debut poetry collection.
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
The Butcher of the Forest is an eerie fantasy novella about a woman named Veris Thorn, forced to enter a dark forest full of terrors. Outside the forest a tyrant rules the land, but within it, ancient creatures and magical trappings risk Thorn's survival and that of the kingdom rulers' lost child she's sent to rescue.
Premee Mohamed is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and author of speculative fiction based in Edmonton. Her series Beneath the Rising received nominations for the Crawford Award, British Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards and Aurora Awards. She is also the author of The Annual Migration of Clouds and No One Will Come Back for Us.
Land of No Regrets by Sadi Muktadir
Nabil is the new transfer student at Al Haque Islamic Academy, where he struggles with new rigid rules and religious studies, longing for his regular teen life back in Scarborough. Land of No Regrets sees Nabil fall into the company of two other boys he catches doing something illicit. He and class clown Farid complete the foursome, who together discover the diary of a student back from when the school was an all-girls Catholic institution. Inspired to escape their madrasa, the boys' path toward freedom ultimately changes their lives forever.
Sadi Muktadir is a Toronto based writer and editor at Joyland Magazine. Land of No Regrets is his debut novel.
Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen
A humorous and heartfelt novel, Sunshine Nails is about a Vietnamese Canadian family who are trying to keep their family business, a nail salon called Sunshine Nails, open. In addition to increasing rent, a new chain salon store named Take Ten opens in the same neighbourhood, and the family's business struggles to remain running.
Family relationships are put to the test as they work together to save their nail salon.
Mai Nguyen was raised in Halifax and currently lives in Toronto. She has written for publications such as Wired, The Washington Post, The Toronto Star as a journalist and copywriter. Sunshine Nails is her debut novel.
Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment by Farah Qaiser and Hajer Nakua, illustrated by Natalya Tariq
When Khadija goes to a science fair she sees many scientists walking around in lab coats and safety goggles, but none wearing hijab like she does. Inspired by a fun and messy experiment she witnessed, Khadija wants to try it for herself at home. Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment centres a young Muslim girl exploring her love for science as her family celebrate Eid.
Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment is for ages 6 to 8 and is out now.
Farah Qaiser is a genomics researcher with a passion for making science accessible. Hajer Nakua is a neuroscience researcher at the University of Toronto. Qaiser and Nakua are both based in Mississauga. Khadija and the Elephant Toothpaste Experiment is their first children's book.
Natalya Tariq is an illustrator who has previously worked in translation. She is currently living in Ottawa.
Peacocks of Instagram by Deepa Rajagopalan
The collection of stories in Peacocks of Instagram paint a tapestry of the Indian diaspora. Tales of revenge, love, desire and family explore the intense ramifications of privilege, or lack thereof. Coffee shop and hotel housekeeping employees, engineers and children show us all of themselves, flaws and all.
Deepa Rajagopalan was the 2021 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award winner. Born to Indian parents in Saudi Arabia, she has lived across India, the United States and Canada. Her previous writing has appeared in publications such as the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, the New Quarterly, Room and Arc. Rajagopalan now lives and works in Ontario.
Dinner on Monster Island by Tania De Rozario
In her book Dinner on Monster Island, Tania De Rozario looks at her experiences growing up in Singapore and how she often felt monstrous and othered as a queer, brown, fat girl.
The essays recount traumatic life events such as getting gay-exorcized at age twelve and connects them with elements of history, pop culture and horror films.
De Rozario is a Vancouver-based writer and artist whose other books include Lambda Literary Award finalist And The Walls Come Crumbling Down and Tender Delirium.
Outspoken by Sima Samar, with Sally Armstrong
In her memoir Outspoken, Sima Samar recounts her journey from agreeing to an arranged marriage to be able to attend university to her revolutionary battle for human rights and career as a medical doctor. When her husband disappears under the country's Pro-Russian regime, she flees to the countryside with her son to treat people who had never had access to medical care. Samar's powerful stories bring attention to the corruption of religion and politics that she spent her life fighting against both at home and abroad.
Samar is a Hazara doctor, human rights defender and activist from Afghanistan who is dedicated to the empowerment of women and girls. She founded Shuhada Organization, a civil society collective that runs schools, hospitals and clinics to provide access to healthcare and education. She served as Minister of Women's Affairs, chaired the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and was appointed as a member of the United Nations Secretary General's High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement in 2019.
Sally Armstrong is a Canadian author, journalist, human rights activist and documentary filmmaker who covers war and conflict.
Roaming by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki
Roaming is a YA graphic novel that follows best friends Zoe and Dani on a trip to New York City during their first year of college. As a queer romance blossoms between Zoe and Dani's classmate Fiona — who tags along — friendships get put to the test and all three girls learn more about who they are.
Jillian Tamaki is a Toronto-based cartoonist, illustrator and educator. With her cousin Mariko Tamaki, she co-created the YA graphic novel Skim, which won the Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — text. Another collaboration, This One Summer, won the Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — illustration.
Mariko Tamaki is a writer based in California. Her other books include the YA novels (you) Set Me On Fire and Saving Montgomery Sole. She's also the author of many superhero comics for DC Comics, Darkhorse and Marvel.
Landbridge by Y-Dang Troeung
In her memoir Landbridge: Life in Fragments, Y-Dang Troeung wrote about the transactional relationship host countries have with the refugees they admit. Troeung herself was only one-year-old when she came to Canada from Cambodia fleeing Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime. The book also explores the complex ethnic, regional and national identities of family legacies and how they are passed down to the next generation.
Troeung was a researcher, writer and assistant professor of English at the University of British Columbia. Her first book, Refugee Lifeworlds: The Afterlife of the Cold War in Cambodia, explored the enduring impact of war, genocide and displacement. She died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 42 in 2022.
Nowhere, Exactly by M.G. Vassanji
Nowhere, Exactly examines the challenges around the idea of home, belonging and identity from an immigrant perspective when home is not always one specific place — not the country of origin nor the place of resettlement. M.G. Vassanji reflects on feelings of guilt, loss and gain that come with emigration and the ways that communities and their histories shape individuals.
Vassanji is a Toronto-based author of Indian descent born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania. His original works include Everything There Is, A Delhi Obsession and The Book of Secrets. He was the recipient of the 1994 and 2003 Giller Prize for best work of fiction for his books The Books of Secrets and The In-Between World of Vikram Lall.
The Mask by Terry Watada
The Mask is a poetry collection titled after both the emblem of the 2020 pandemic and as a significant cultural symbol in Japan. Terry Watada's poems are centred around themes of loss, the mystical and the reality of being an immigrant in Canada.
Watada is a poet and writer currently based in Toronto. He is the author of many books including his novels The Three Pleasures and The Blood of Foxes. His play, Sakura: the Last Cherry Blossom Festival will premiere in 2024.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Iron Widow is a YA fantasy novel featuring aliens, giant robots and a quest to battle evil. In the world of Huaxia, boys pair up with girls to operate transforming robots named Chrysalises, but the girls often die from the mental strain of it all. When a teen girl named Zetian takes on the mantle of an Iron Widow and is paired up with a male pilot named Li Shimin, the story becomes one of power, vengeance and gender equality.
Xiran Jay Zhao is a Vancouver-based science fiction and fantasy writer who is also training to become a biochemist. She is a first-generation Chinese immigrant, with an interest in Chinese history, cosplay and anime.
Crooked Teeth by Danny Ramadan
Crooked Teeth is Danny Ramadan's memoir that refutes the oversimplified refugee narrative and transports readers on an epic and often fraught journey from Damascus to Cairo, Beirut and Vancouver. Told with nuance and fearless intimacy about being a queer Syrian-Canadian, Crooked Teeth revisits parts of Ramadan's past he'd rather forget.
When you can read it: May 28, 2024
Ramadan is a Vancouver-based Syrian-Canadian author and advocate. His debut novel The Clothesline Swing was longlisted for Canada Reads in 2018 and his second novel The Foghorn Echoes won a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction.
