It’s the final days of National Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! We’d like to honor the end of this celebratory month by featuring a few Asian Latinx creators we’ve rounded up from Twitter!
See the original tweets from Latinx in Publishing and our board chair, Saraciea Fennell, and be sure to check out our Bookshop for the complete list of books by Asian & AAPI Latinx creators!
Illustrators
Credit: CreativeMornings
KUAN YIN: THE PRINCESS WHO BECAME THE GODDESS OF COMPASSION | Picture Book
by Maya van der Meer; illustrated by Wen Hsu (Penguin Random House)
Miao Shan isn’t your typical princess. She likes to spend her time quietly meditating with the creatures of the forest or having adventures with dragons and tigers. Miao Shan’s heart is so full of love that her dream is to spread happiness throughout the land and help people endlessly. But her father has other plans for her–he intends to have her married and remain in the palace. With the help of her little sister Ling, Miao Shan escapes and begins her journey to discover the true meaning of compassion.
During their adventure, Ling and Miao Shan are eventually separated. Ling must overcome doubts, fears, and loneliness in order to realize what her sister had told her all along–that love is the greatest power in the world. After the sisters’ reunion, Miao Shan realizes her true calling as Kuan Yin, the goddess of compassion. A princess-adventure story like none other, this ancient Chinese tale of the world’s most beloved Buddhist hero is a story of sisterhood, strength, and following your own path.
Credit: Lorian Tu’s website.
Lorian Tu | Chinese, Cuban, and Ashkenazi descent
Lorian Tu is a former art and special education teacher for elementary school kids, and currently a fulltime maker of kid-lit and kid-lit-art. A mom and an art teacher, her greatest inspiration comes from her sons and her students, as well as from her mixed-race, multi-ethnic childhood and adult life. She is the illustrator of Dress Like a Girl, written by Patricia Toht; May God Bless You and Keep You, written by Sarah Raymond Cunningham; and Stay Through the Storm, written by Joanna Rowland.
Find her here.
THE RICE IN THE POT GOES ROUND AND ROUND | Picture Book
by Wendy Wan-Long Shang; illustrated by Lorian Tu (Scholastic Book Clubs)
At the table where this family gathers, they share food, laughter, and, most of all, love. Readers of all ages are sure to enjoy slurping noodles, squishing tofu, and tapping chopsticks as they sing along to this familiar tune.
Rhythmic text and playful illustrations bring this heartwarming, mouthwatering story to life. Informative back matter includes a food glossary and etiquette guidelines that are sure to delight and engage young readers.
Credit: Saki Tanaka’s website.
Saki Tanaka | Japanese/Mexican
Saki Tanaka writes and illustrates children’s books in Brooklyn, New York.
"Being born in Japan to a Mexican mother and Japanese father might explain my fascination with multi-cultural identities and transitional experiences. I grew up moving around the globe, becoming “the new kid” every few years. Looking and sounding “different” was my normal. Sometimes this was fun… Sometimes it wasn’t.
I aspire to tell stories that make outsiders feel good about being different, and unlock worlds for dreamers who want to belong. My hope is to create books that make future grown-ups question “why not” and “what if?” by celebrating the big and small wonders of our universe, and reveling in all kinds of gray areas where opposites embrace.”
Find her here.
IF SUN COULD SPEAK | Picture Book
by Kourtney LaFavre; illustrated by Saki Tanaka (Clear Fork Publishing)
Sun is out to impress in this slightly egotistical first-person account that sheds light on the facts, history, and myths about its existence. Sun seeks to inspire readers to wonder and search for discoveries in this witty STEM-infused exploration of the center of our solar system.
amelia lau carling | chinese/guatemalan
Amelia Lau Carling was born and grew up in Guatemala, the youngest of six children of Chinese immigrants. Surrounded by family and customers in her parents’ general store, she learned about Chinese, Spanish, and Mayan cultures. After moving to the United States, she was inspired to write Mama and Papa Have a Store, her debut book, by her own children’s fascination with stories of her childhood. Carling now lives in Yonkers, New York.
MAMA AND PAPA HAVE A STORE | Picture Book
by Amelia Lau Carling; illustrated by Amelia Lau Carling (Lee & Low Books)
From the clip, clop of the milkman’s mule in the early morning to the clacking of her father’s abacus at night, a young girl brings us into her home, which is also her parents’ store. Located in Guatemala City, the store is filled with the colorful textures of cloth, threads, buttons, and things from her parents’ homeland in China. As people come and go throughout the day, the girl hears several languages—Spanish, Chinese, and Mayan.
The Mayans buy thread for weaving in colors such as “parrot green” and “mango yellow.” The girl’s parents talk about their hometown in China, from which they emigrated, fleeing a war, years ago. The girl and her brothers and sisters make up games to play on the rooftop terrace, on the sidewalk, and in the store. After supper the girl dances to celebrate her day.
Lyrical writing and delightful artwork will captivate both children and adults in this story drawn from the author/illustrator’s childhood memories.
Writers & Authors
Credit: Ryoki Inoue’s website.
Ryoki Inoue | Japanese/ Brazilian
“Brazilian author Ryoki Inoue holds the Guinness World Record for being the most prolific author with 1,075 books published under many pseudonyms.”
“In his opinion, the secret of the creative process is in 98% of sweat, 1% of talent and 1% of luck. Moreover, discipline and application are the motive that make him to be sit in front of his computer and don’t leave until the end of his new job…Nowadays, Ryoki Inoues’s objective is to produce a romance a year, two in maximum.”
You can find more about him here.
Credit: Helen Hesse & Transit Books
Carlos Yushimito | Peruvian/ Japanese
Carlos Yushimito was born in Lima, Peru, in 1977. He is the author of the story collections El mago, Las islas, Lecciones para un niño que llega tarde, and Los bosques tienen sus propias puertas. In 2008 he was chosen as one of the best young writers in Latin America by Casa de las Americas and the Centro Onelio Cardoso de Cuba; and in 2010, by Granta as one of the Best Young Spanish Language Novelists. He recently joined the University of California, Riverside, faculty after receiving a PhD from Brown University.
LESSONS FOR A CHILD WHO ARRIVES LATE | Adult Fiction
by Carlos Yushimito; translated by Valerie Miles (Transit Books)
A mascot for an electronics store dreams of making it in the drug world of Rio de Janeiro. A tin man ponders the mysteries of death as a heart starts to take charge of his limbs, while in a place not so far away a boy tries to play the piano like Margarita, the teacher’s cruel and beautiful niece. In stories filled with violence and tenderness, love and disconnection, Carlos Yushimito’s long-anticipated debut explores the subtle space of estrangement.
Credit: Marion Ettinger
Sigrid Nunez
Sigrid Nunez has published eight novels, including A Feather on the Breath of God, The Last of Her Kind, Salvation City, The Friend, and, most recently, What Are You Going Through. She is also the author of Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag. The Friend, a New York Times bestseller, won the 2018 National Book Award. You can find more here.
THE FRIEND | Adult Fiction
by Sigrid Nunez (Riverhead Books)
When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.
While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog’s care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.
Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion.
Credit: Olivia Abtahi website.
olivia abtahi | iranian /argentinian
Olivia Abtahi is a writer and filmmakers based in Denver, Colorado. Born to an Iranian father and Argentinian mother, she is a mix of distinct cultures. Her debut novel, Perfectly Parvin, is set for Spring 2021 publication through Penguin's Putnam Books for Young Readers while her second book, TWIN FLAMES, will be available Fall 2021 from Tu Books. In her spare time Olivia enjoys binging music videos on YouTube, laughing so hard she can’t breathe, and hitting 10,000 steps on her FitBit.
https://www.oliviaabtahi.com/
PERFECTLY PARVIN | Young Adult Fiction
by Olivia Abtahi (Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers)
Parvin Mohammadi has just been dumped—only days after receiving official girlfriend status. Not only is she heartbroken, she's humiliated. Enter high school heartthrob Matty Fumero, who just might be the smoking-hot cure to all her boy problems. If Parvin can get Matty to ask her to Homecoming, she's positive it will prove to herself and her ex that she's girlfriend material after all. There's just one problem: Matty is definitely too cool for bassoon-playing, frizzy-haired, Cheeto-eating Parvin. Since being herself hasn't worked for her in the past (see aforementioned dumping), she decides to start acting like the women in her favorite rom-coms. Those women aren't loud, they certainly don't cackle when they laugh, and they smile much more than they talk.
But Parvin discovers that being a rom-com dream girl is much harder than it looks. Also hard? The parent-mandated Farsi lessons. A confusing friendship with a boy who's definitely not supposed to like her. And hardest of all, the ramifications of the Muslim ban on her family in Iran. Suddenly, being herself has never been more important.
Olivia Abtahi's debut is as hilarious as it is heartfelt—a delightful tale where, amid the turmoil of high school friendships and crushes, being yourself is always the perfect way to be.
Credit: Emery Lee website.
Emery Lee
Emery Lee is a kidlit author, artist, and YouTuber hailing from a mixed-racial background. After graduating with a degree in creative writing, e’s gone on to author novels, short stories, and webcomics. When away from reading and writing, you’ll most likely find em engaged in art or snuggling cute dogs.
Find him here.
MEET CUTE DIARY | Young Adult Fiction
by Emery Lee (HarperCollins)
Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.
When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.
In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script.
Credit: Words without Borders
julia wong-kcomt | Chinese Peruvian
Julia Wong Kcomt was born into a Tusán (Chinese Peruvian) family in Chepén, Perú, in 1965. Her father was a well-known philanthropist in Macau who founded a project in 1995 to create public libraries in open spaces like parks and gardens. She traveled from an early age, and her perceptions of country borders, different cultures, and diversity in ethnicity and religion became a strong motivation to write.
Read “The Red Rooster” and “Inevitable Saint” here.
Credit: UCLA website.
rev. dr. robert chao romero | Chinese mexican
Rev. Dr. Robert Chao Romero is "Asian-Latino," and has been a professor of Chicana/o Studies and Asian American Studies at UCLA since 2005. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA in Latin American History and his Juris Doctor from U.C. Berkeley, and is also an attorney. Romero has published 15 academic books and articles on issues of race, immigration, history, education, and religion, and received the Latina/o Studies book award from the international Latin American Studies Association. He is also an InterVarsity Press author. Romero is a former Ford Foundation and U.C. President's Postdoctoral Fellow, as well as a recipient of the Louisville Institute's Sabbatical Grant for Researchers.
Robert is an ordained pastor. Together with his wife Erica, he is the co-founder of Jesus 4 Revolutionaries, a Christian ministry to activists, as well as the co-chair of the Matthew 25 Movement in Southern California.
Find him here.
BROWN CHURCH | Nonfiction
by Roberto Chao Ramero (InterVarsity Press)
For five hundred years, Latina/o culture and identity have been shaped by their challenges to the religious, socio-economic, and political status quo, whether in opposition to Spanish colonialism, Latin American dictatorships, US imperialism in Central America, the oppression of farmworkers, or the current exploitation of undocumented immigrants. Christianity has played a significant role in that movement at every stage.
Robert Chao Romero, the son of a Mexican father and a Chinese immigrant mother, explores the history and theology of what he terms the "Brown Church." Romero considers how this movement has responded to these and other injustices throughout its history by appealing to the belief that God's vision for redemption includes not only heavenly promises but also the transformation of every aspect of our lives and the world. Walking through this history of activism and faith, readers will discover that Latina/o Christians have a heart after God's own.
Credit: Tony Tian-Ren Lin website.
Tony Tian-ren lin | taiwanese/argentinian
Tony Tian-Ren Lin is the Program Director for the Leadership Development initiative at Trinity Church Wall Street and a Research Professor at New York Theological Seminary. He is a cultural sociologist whose scholarship focuses on the intersection of religion, immigration, race, and ethnicity. He is the author of Prosperity Gospel Latinos and Their American Dream (University of North Carolina Press, 2020)…
Lin was born in Taiwan and grew up in Argentina…His work has been featured in The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, LatinoUSA, WNYC, and other venues.
Find his full bio here.
PROSPERITY GOSPEL LATINOS AND THEIR AMERICAN DREAM | Nonfiction
by Tony Tian-Ren Lin (University of North Carolina Press)
In this immersive ethnography, Tony Tian-Ren Lin explores the reasons that Latin American immigrants across the United States are increasingly drawn to Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism, a strand of Protestantism gaining popularity around the world. Lin contends that Latinos embrace Prosperity Gospel, which teaches that believers may achieve both divine salvation and worldly success, because it helps them account for the contradictions of their lives as immigrants. Weaving together his informants’ firsthand accounts of their religious experiences and everyday lives, Lin offers poignant insight into how they see their faith transforming them both as individuals and as communities.
The theology fuses salvation with material goods so that as these immigrants pursue spiritual rewards they are also, perhaps paradoxically, striving for the American dream. But after all, Lin observes, prosperity is the gospel of the American dream. In this way, while becoming better Prosperity Gospel Pentecostals they are also adopting traditional white American norms. Yet this is not a story of smooth assimilation as most of these immigrants must deal with the immensity of the broader cultural and political resistance to their actually becoming Americans. Rather, Prosperity Gospel Pentecostalism gives Latinos the logic and understanding of themselves as those who belong in this country yet remain perpetual outsiders.
Credit: Mekita Rivas website.
Mekita Rivas
Mekita Rivas “is a multicultural freelance journalist and creative consultant based in Washington, D.C. I am currently the senior fashion writer at Bustle, and am available for commissions and assignments with other outlets. I primarily cover culture, style, and politics through the lens of gender, race, and ethnicity. My writing has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, InStyle, Architectural Digest, Food & Wine, Wine Enthusiast, Glamour, Brides, Refinery29, Teen Vogue, Self, and others.”
Find her here.
Daniel Zarazua | Taiwanese/Mexican
Daniel Zarazura is the founder of Pochino Press whose mission is “to publish works that illuminate stories, which originate in the intersections where hybrid cultures not only meet, but form a new sensibility.” Find them here.
HEI REN, HEI REN |Non fiction
by Daniel Zarazura (Pochino Press)
HEI REN, HEI REN is a preview of Daniel D. Zarazua's book "Taiwan is My Home", a look at the life of Black and Latino residents in Taiwan. He draws upon his family history to inform his work, including being born in Taipei to Chicano and Taiwanese parents. Follow more of Daniel D. Zarazua's work on www.facebook.com/taiwanismyhome
Credit: ASU website.
Rudy p. guevarra jr.
Rudy P. Guevarra Jr. is associate professor and honors faculty of Asian Pacific American studies in the School of Social Transformation, and affiliate faculty in the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University…
Guevarra is the author of "Becoming Mexipino: Multiethnic Identities and Communities in San Diego" (Rutgers University Press, 2012). His work has also appeared in the Journal of Asian American Studies, The Asian American Literary Review and the Journal of San Diego History. His current book project is "Aloha Compadre: Latina/os in Hawai'i, 1832-2010" (Rutgers University Press, forthcoming). Guevarra is also currently developing an interactive digital website called the Latino Pacific Archive (LPA) with Professor Alexandrina Agloro (Worcester Polytechnic Institute).
Guevarra received an Early Career Award from the Association for Asian American Studies in 2014 and was a Junior Faculty Fellow for the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education in 2008.
BECOMING MEXIPINO | Non fiction
by Rudy P. Guevarra Jr. (Rutgers University Press)
Becoming Mexipino is a social-historical interpretation of two ethnic groups, one Mexican, the other Filipino, whose paths led both groups to San Diego, California. Rudy Guevarra traces the earliest interactions of both groups with Spanish colonialism to illustrate how these historical ties and cultural bonds laid the foundation for what would become close interethnic relationships and communities in twentieth-century San Diego as well as in other locales throughout California and the Pacific West Coast.
Through racially restrictive covenants and other forms of discrimination, both groups, regardless of their differences, were confined to segregated living spaces along with African Americans, other Asian groups, and a few European immigrant clusters. Within these urban multiracial spaces, Mexicans and Filipinos coalesced to build a world of their own through family and kin networks, shared cultural practices, social organizations, and music and other forms of entertainment. They occupied the same living spaces, attended the same Catholic churches, and worked together creating labor cultures that reinforced their ties, often fostering marriages. Mexipino children, living simultaneously in two cultures, have forged a new identity for themselves. Their lives are the lens through which these two communities are examined, revealing the ways in which Mexicans and Filipinos interacted over generations to produce this distinct and instructive multiethnic experience. Using archival sources, oral histories, newspapers, and personal collections and photographs, Guevarra defines the niche that this particular group carved out for itself.
Credit: Bianca Wang-Polendo Instagram.
Bianca Wang-Polendo
Bianca Wang-Polendo spent much of her childhood and adolescent years reading fantasy novels. From writing short, incomplete scribbles as an elementary school student to writing retellings of fairy tales during middle and high school, she now is hoping to use fantasy to explore themes relevant to current world trends. She wants her work to especially speak to those who may be underrepresented in media.
In her free time, she is probably scrolling through memes, watching Asian dramas, playing piano, or cuddling with her Shiba Inu. Bianca also enjoys learning foreign languages and traveling internationally. She graduated from MIT with a degree in mathematics and a minor in economics.
Between Demons and Deities is her first book.
Find her here.
BETWEEN DEMONS AND DEITIES | Young Adult Fiction
by Bianca Wang-Polendo. (New Degree Press)
After waking up from a coma two years ago, half-Atonacan, half-Wei fire mage Esmeralda has struggled with lost memories. Since then, Esme has led a quiet life in Atonaco with her best friend, a spirit mage named Dacio. Everything begins to fall apart the day that Dacio is arrested for a crime that they couldn't possibly have committed-the attempted murder of the emperor of Wei.
With the help of Dacio's mysterious friend, Esme embarks on a quest to prove Dacio's innocence. However, things are not as they seem, for ominous and powerful beings lurk in the shadows. As she begins to piece together the mystery of her past, she stumbles upon a sinister plan that threatens the fate of the mortal realm.
Between Demons and Deities features the magic and freedom of friendship and self-acceptance in the face of adversity and murky secrets.
Tania Chen (Eliot c.) | chinese-mexican
Tania Chen is a Chinese-Mexican writer who is on the lookout for anything weird and speculative. They write to explore horror and where it can be found in this modern day and age. When they're not exploring the mortifying ordeal of being known, they are aggressively cheerleading other writers to finish their WIPs. Tania can be found screaming on twitter @archistratego under their pen name, Eliot C.
Sloan Asakura
Sloan Asakura (she/he/they) is a poet and memoirist originally from Los Angeles, who has recently returned home after journeys in the Pacific Northwest. Having graduated from Western Washington University with a BA in English Creative Writing and Linguistics minor, Sloan spends most of their time working under the thumb of the capitalist machine. Their hobbies include cooking, gardening, and collecting moths. Their work has been published in Jeopardy Magazine, Rigorous, The Mantle, Rogue Agent, and O:JA&L. They are the editor-in-chief of mawth.
Find them here.
