Asian American Memoirs & EssaysLike this list

46 items

• Dear America

  Notes of An Undocumented Citizen

  Vargas, Jose Antonio,

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  Filipino-American journalist Vargas shares his story of being an undocumented immigrant. Also available: Spanish edition and young readers' edition (print), audiobook, e-book, Spanish e-book, young readers' edition e-book, and young readers' edition…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Know My Name

  a Memoir

  Miller, Chanel,

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  Miller writes about surviving sexual assault - and its aftermath. E-book and audiobook (Libby/Overdrive) also available.

• Redefining Realness

  My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

  Mock, Janet, 1983-

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  Mock, a writer, producer, director, and trans activist, writes about growing up multiracial, trans, and poor in Hawai'i. Audiobook (Hoopla) also available.

• The Latehomecomer

  a Hmong Family Memoir

  Yang, Kao Kalia, 1980-

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  Yang’s award-winning memoir of her family’s harrowing escape from war in Laos is a love letter to her grandmother, a troubling portrait of the consequences of us intervention in Southeast Asia, and a glimpse into the little-seen exodus of the Hmong…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Good Talk

  a Memoir in Conversations

  Jacob, Mira, 1973-

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  In this graphic memoir, Jacob, a novelist with a strong ear for dialogue, illustrates real-life conversations about race, sexuality, and politics. Audiobook (Libby/Overdrive) also available.

• To Be Takei

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  This documentary follows actor and advocate George Takei into his 21st-century role as Internet pop culture icon.

• Minor Feelings

  An Asian American Reckoning

  Hong, Cathy Park,

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  In this collection of essays, the poet Cathy Park Hong explores Asian-American racial consciousness through a variety of lenses. E-book and audiobook (Libby/Overdrive) also available.

• Sick

  a Memoir

  Khakpour, Porochista,

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  Khakpour recounts her journey through chronic illness. E-book (Libby/Overdrive) and audiobook (Hoopla) also available.

• Speak, Okinawa

  a Memoir

  Brina, Elizabeth Miki, 1981-

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  Brina reckons with her own identity along with the history of Okinawa and Okinawans. E-book and audiobook (Libby/Overdrive) also available.

• Crying in H Mart

  a Memoir

  Zauner, Michelle,

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  Zauner, better known as the rock musician Japanese Breakfast, turns to prose to explore grief, food, and her mixed-race identity.

• Sigh, Gone

  a Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit in

  Tran, Phuc, 1974-

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  Tran tells his coming-of-age story through the themes of classic literature. E-book and audiobook (Libby/Overdrive) also available.

• My Chinese-America

  Gee, Allen,

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  Gee's essay collection explores immigration, masculinity, racism, and silence. E-book (Hoopla) also available).

• The Grace Lee Project

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  When filmmaker Grace Lee was growing up in Missouri, she was the only Grace Lee she knew. As an adult, however, she moved to New York and then California, where everyone she met seemed to know "another Grace Lee." But why did they assume that all…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Silver Like Dust

  One Family's Story of America's Japanese Internment

  Grant, Kimi Cunningham,

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  Grant explores her grandmother's story, from the racism and paranoia that sprang up after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to the terrifying train ride to Heart Mountain. E-book and audiobook (Hoopla) also available.

• This Is One Way to Dance

  Essays

  Shah, Sejal, 1972-

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  Shah reflects on what it means to make oneself visible and legible through writing, and maps her identity as an American, South Asian American, writer of color, and feminist. E-book (Hoopla) also available.

• The Language of Blood

  a Memoir

  Trenka, Jane Jeong, 1972-

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  Jane Jeong Trenka and her sister were adopted and raised in the small, homogeneous town of Harlow, Minnesota. They were loved as American children without a past. With prose that includes real and imagined letters, a fairy tale, a one-act play,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• World of Wonders

  in Praise of Whale Sharks, Fireflies, and Other Astonishments

  Nezhukumatathil, Aimee,

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  As a child, poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil called many places home. But no matter where she was transplanted—no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape—she was able to turn to our world’s fierce and funny creatures for guidance. E-book…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

  a Memoir

  Madden, T Kira,

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  Madden recounts coming of age with parents who struggled with substance addiction, and reckoning with desire as a queer, biracial teenager amidst the fierce contradictions of Boca Raton, Florida.

• The Best We Could Do

  An Illustrated Memoir

  Bui, Thi,

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  Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, this graphic memoir documents the story of Bui's family's escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Dream of Water

  a Memoir

  Mori, Kyoko,

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  Mori returns to Japan to visit the beautiful and violent "landscape of my childhood." There, as she relives memories and uncovers secrets from the past, she is constantly aware of the culture she abandoned and the one she has adopted.