On our mid-month check in for October 2023, we review the latest Asian American book and publishing announcements, as well as catch up on the latest controversial moves by a prominent book corporation.

Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:

• Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
• Untitled middle grade by Karina Yan Glaser
• One Mad Cat by Vicky Fang 
• Zuni and the Memory Jar by Aisha Saeed; illust by Neha Rawat
• Bread Is Love by Pooja Makhijani; illust by Lavanya Naidu
• Crossing the Finish Line by Thushanthi Ponweera; illust by Maithili Joshi
• Nora at Night by April dela Noche Milne
• The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen by Shokoofeh Azar
• The Tales from Cabin 23 by Justina Ireland and Hanna Alkaf
• Be Careful, Xiao Xin! by Alice Pung; illust by Sher Rill Ng
• Auntie Q’s Golden Claws Nail Salon by Van Hoang
• Dust by Gina Nguyen
• Muslim Mavericks series by Seema Yasmin
• Chopsticks Are… by Chloe Ito Ward; illust by Lynn Scurfield
• What Sparks a Fire? by Livia Blackburne; illust by Nicole Xu
• Two-List Thanksgiving by Christine Whan; illust by Sienna Kim
• The Ghost Key by S.R. Appavu
• The Three Beasts by Gillian Pascasio
• Gracie Under the Waves by Linda Sue Park
• Zeyna Lost and Found by Shafaq Khan
• The Serpent Rider by Yxavel Magno Diño
• What a Weirdo! and What a World! by Laan Cham
• Lost and Found at the Gurdwara by Baljinder Kaur

News stories covered on this episode:

• Scholastic to separate books on race and sexuality for book fairs
• We Need Diverse Books’s statement condemning Scholastic’s decision

On this author chat episode, we sit down with bestselling author Jean Kwok to discuss her latest novel THE LEFTOVER WOMEN, a suspenseful story about 2 women, one recent immigrant from China searching for the daughter that was taken from her at birth, and an affluent publishing executive trying to balance the needs of her career with her beloved adopted daughter. We chat with Jean about her personal journey as an author, and what inspired her to write her latest novel.

Follow Jean on instagram at @jeankwokauthor and check out her novel, The Leftover Women available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

*Support the podcast by supporting our new Patreon*

On this episode, we discuss our September 2023 book club pick The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang, an Asian American family drama about a multi-generational restaurant family from the midwest and what happens to them and their town’s Chinese American enclave when their tyrannical patriarch is found dead and the ensuing trial brings to the forefront all the things left unsaid in each of the Chao family members’ own pursuit of the American Dream.

*Support the podcast by purchasing books at our bookshop or by buying Books & Boba merch at our Bonfire store*

On our mid-month check in for September 2023, we review the latest Asian American book and publishing announcements, as well as catch up on some news from the ongoing literary awards season.

Upcoming books mentioned in our publishing news:

• Toward Eternity by Anton Hur
• Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay
• Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi
• Ahimsa is Everywhere by Suma Subramaniam; illust by Aparna Varma
• My Name is Ai Lin by Maria Wen Adcock; illust by Yu Ting
• Eid Tale by Aaliya Jaleel
• Celebrating Dong Zhi by Michelle Jing Chan
• This Book Won’t Burn by Samira Ahmed
• The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee
• Gamers by E.C. Meyers
• The Mithai Box is Not Empty by Namrata Agarwal; illust by Parvati Pillai

News stories covered on this episode:

• Asian nominees for the 2023 National Book Award longlist
• The Pulitzer Prize Board has expanded their eligibility to non-US Citizens

*Support the podcast by supporting our new Patreon*

On this episode, we chat with author Andrew Yang (not the candidate) about his debut novel, I’m Not Here to Make Friends, a coming of age story about two girls who join the cast of a “Terrace House” like reality TV series that gathers six Asian Americans from across the country to live together for the cameras. Andrew shares with us his author’s journey, as well as geek out a little with Reera about their favorite Terrace House moments.

Follow Andrew on twitter at @ayang_writes and check out his novel, I’m Not Here to Make Friends, available now on the Books & Boba bookshop!

*Support the podcast by supporting our new Patreon*