Happy Asian Heritage Month! This May, we’re inviting folks to join our 31-day Asian Books Challenge. All you have to do for the challenge is recommend a book by an Asian author for each day’s prompt.

Make sure to use our hashtag #AsianBooksChallenge, so that other book lovers can see what books you’ve recommended. If you are a book blogger who is planning to blog about your progress on the challenge, please let us know. We would love to include you in a roundup post at the end of the month.

We also have a vertical calendar for those interested in sharing their Asian book recommendations on their Instagram story.

While May is officially called “Asian Pacific American Heritage Month,” we are aware that many Pasifika and Oceanic activists have expressed their wishes to have their own space to celebrate their heritage, history, and trials, which are distinctly unique from Asian experiences. Therefore, out of respect, we will be focusing on authors of Asian descent for this challenge.

If you are interested in reading books by Pasifika authors, please check out Frances Yackel’s “13 Books by Pacific Islanders“ on Electric Literature and The Quiet Pond’s 2019 recommendations on books by Maori and Pasifika authors. We will also do our best to spotlight Pasifika and Oceanic writers throughout the month either through social media or in a separate blog post.

Since there are so many gifted Asian authors who live outside of America, we are not restricting our #AsianBooksChallenge to feature only Asian American authors. The Asian diasporic experience is a broad spectrum, and there are also plenty of hidden gems in Asian literature that have yet to be translated into English. We’re excited to see everyone’s recommendations throughout the month!

Other Asian Bookish Events

• Asian Author Alliance

The organization will be hosting a series of virtual events and panels featuring AAPI authors, illustrators, and creators for the entire month of May. For updates on scheduling, please check out AsianAuthorAlliance.com and follow them on Twitter at @Asian_Authors.

• Asian Read-a-Thon

Asian Read-a-Thon is a month-long reading marathon that encourages participants to read books by Asian authors. You can read one standalone book or multiple books, depending on your preferred reading pace. The group will also be doing a #LittleFiresEverywhereWatchAlong for those who are interested in reading Celeste Ng’s sophomore novel Little Fires Everywhere and watching the Hulu adaptation of the novel. They also have an excellent list of books by Asian authors, categorized by ethnicity and languages.

• Asian Lit Chat

Lit Celebrasian will be hosting a month-long #AsianLitChat, where participants can share thoughts on weekly bookish prompts on Twitter. Many of our prompts overlap with theirs, so if you would like to converse with others about your recommendations, the chat is a great way to do so. You can learn more about #AsianLitChat on their website.