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Beyond Asian Heritage Month: A Reading List

Since 2002, the month of May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada. Being the largest, most populous continent in the world, there are so many works from so many authors to read! The thousands of years of history within each country and between many of them has produced a complex and rich background that it makes it seems almost silly to use a single term like “Asian” to describe it all. For many members of the diaspora who are Canadians or residents within Canada, whether their family history within North America begins as recently as this past year or goes back for generations, the increase in anti-Asian hate crimes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic shows a disturbing trend. Sadly, much of the stereotypes and conflating of various peoples from the “East” into one static “other” group isn’t recent. See Edward Said’s Orientalism.

For these reasons, an Asian Heritage Month reading list (and listening and learning list really) seemed like a must, but I’ll admit has been particularly difficult for me to put together as I navigate my own identity as a multiracial person of Hakka Chinese descent. The Asian experience is vast, so I sought out the recommendations of others to help put together this resource list of Asian authors for Asian Heritage Month and beyond. Here are some books that are written by Asian authors and/or feature Asian characters, as recommended by members of the Asian community in Canada.

Fiction & Poetry

β€œI recommended Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang because it was the story that was the basis of the film Arrival (2016) and I never knew an Asian person wrote that story? Like I knew it was a huge Hollywood sci-fi film with Amy Adams and it was nominated for a bunch of awards, but I never thought that it was based on a sci-fi story by an Asian author. I feel like this was missed, or the nature of the Hollywood film-making industry is to whitewash the origin of the story.” -Sally

β€œIt’s Not Like It’s a Secret was really hard for me to read, because it reminded me so much of the anti-Black racism that I have been guilty of in the past. This book really highlights how the model minority myth damages all of us by only allowing Asians to act in certain ways (we can’t express anger or unhappiness with our lot in life) and pitting different marginalized communities against each other (in the book, Asian vs. Latinx). While racial prejudices between marginalized communities are a complicated problem that predate colonization, the extreme exacerbation of inter-BIPOC prejudices through limited privileging of certain BIPOC groups over others is how white supremacy wins, because we are too busy buying into this fallacy and being enemies instead of allies.” -Sara

β€œSpin the Dawn and Unravel the Dusk is a fantasy series (my favourite genre) β€” and I liked it because elements of the culture & story were clearly inspired by Asian culture. As a fantasy reader, I’m used to just assuming everyone in the story is white, and that the culture is some sort of European. As a first-generation immigrant, I’m also used to assuming that all the traditional elements and their vehicles are in Chinese, a language that I am largely illiterate in. Seeing this blend β€” my culture expressed in English, a language that is foreign but also not β€” is very meaningful, I think, because it creates space for the “in-between”, and those caught in-between cultures and generations.” -Jessie

Non-fiction, Essays & Memoir

β€œAs a Filipino-Canadian that has only been to Philippines twice in my life, I definitely feel a disconnect to my culture. Basketball is huge in the Philippines and [Pacific Rims] highlights how Filipinos grew to love the game and adapted it to fit their (on average) shorter bodies. For me, this book served as a gateway into my culture through the vehicle of basketball.” -Norman

β€œAs Asian Canadians, we do not have a rich history of documenting and understanding our diaspora like Asian America has. In high school, I began to explore my identities through Asian American YouTube, Asian American ethnic studies, and Asian American social justice history. It’s incredible and long overdue to see an emergence of Asian Canada and have more of our stories told and experiences advocated for. From a policy perspective, disaggregating data from our communities is key in tackling our experiences with systemic racism.” -Julia

β€œReading about Michelle Zauner’s relationship to her late Korean mom was a reminder to myself to seek more connection with my mom, despite our differences.” -Kim

Graphic Novels, Comics & Picture Books

β€œDuran Duran, Imelda Marcos, and Me is a compelling graphic memoir of the author’s life including her childhood and eventual immigration from the Philippines, including anecdotes from the 80s People Power Revolution in the Philippines. As a Filipino immigrant, it was interesting to see the connecting threads between her story and mine, while also learning about our history and how those events impacted our people.” -Lenore

β€œTo be honest, this list made me reflect on my literature consumption as a whole. It made me realize that I haven’t consumed as much Indian literature as I thought. It motivates me to consume more of this, especially since I identify as Indian.” – Ramona

β€œAs a big sci-fi and fantasy fan growing up, you are accustomed to seeing fantasy through a Eurocentric lens. Like I love Tolkien as much as the next fantasy nerd, but it’s a little disheartening reading about the evils of “The Men of the East.” So it’s really cool to see a work like the “Shahnameh” adapted in traditional animation [in The Last Fiction]! I kind of wish I had something like this as an Asian teenager fan of fantasy!” -Arash

And more!

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Catherine Vendryes

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One response to “Beyond Asian Heritage Month: A Reading List”

  1. Huong Avatar
    Huong

    Thanks for compiling this great list Catherine! I took a Canadian-Literature course in university, and as a Vietnamese-Canadian, it felt incredibly validating to study Kim Thuy’s Ru. It was interesting on many levels, of course relating my own experience but also observe my classmates and professor’s analysis of a voice and writing that is different from theirs, and through the power of reading it increases their empathy and understanding. I’ve been inspired by Ocean Vuong and Kimberly Nguyen (author of the poetry collection Ghost in the Stalks) recently to explore my own identity and voice, and bring to paper the stories of my family and experiences.