On this episode, we discuss our  August 2021 pick is Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay, a YA coming-of-age story set against the background of Philippine’s President Duterte’s war on drugs. Jay is a bored Filipino American teen in the midst of some major senioritis when he learns that his cousin Jun, who he was once close with, was killed as part of Duterte’s purge of drug pushers and addicts. Wanting to learn the truth behind Jun’s death, Jay takes his first trip to the Philippines in over a decade.

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On this episode, we chat with author Amanda Jayatissa about her debut novel My Sweet Girl,a thriller about a woman trying to unravel the mystery behind her roommate’s death (and the subsequent disappearance of his body), which leads face to face toa reckoning decades in the making that stems back to her own adoption from Sri Lanka. We chat with Amanda about her journey as a writer, including her adventures in self-publishing, as well as the spooky inspirations behind her story.

Follow Meredith on IG at @amandajayatissa and check out her book My Sweet Girl at your local bookseller or our online bookshop

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On this episode, we highlight the latest book and publishing news in Asian American literature for our August 2021 mid-month check-in! 

New books mentioned in our publishing news:

Julia Vee & Ken Bebelle – Ebony Gate
C.B. Lee – A Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe
Alice Lin – Fireworks
Trang Thanh Tran – She Is a Haunting
Susie Lee Jin – Not an Egg; Not a Pumpkin;and Not a Heart
Tara Sim – We Shall Be Monsters
Diana Ma – Extracurricular
Joanna Ho – The Wave Riders; Say My Name
Christine Mari – Kokoro
Elsie Chapman – Kokoro
Tadaaki Imaizumi & Takashi Maruyama – Why We Went Extinct
Ream Shukairy – The Next New Syrian Girl
Livia Blackburne –Nainai’s Mountain 
Saadia Faruqi –Rani
Margaret Chiu Greanias – Hooked on Books
Emery Lee – Café Con Lychee
Catherine Yu – Direwood
Hope Lim – At the Window
Raakhee Mirchandani – My Diwali Light; Mama’s Roti

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On this episode, we chat with author Andrea Wang about her new middle grade novel The Many Meaning of Meilan,a coming of age story about a Chinese American girl who finds strength in the many meanings of her name as she struggles to adjust to moving from Boston’s Chinatown to a small town in Ohio. We chat with Andrea about her journey to becoming a childen’s book author and her inspirations for writing her novel. We also share some of our own experiences with our uncommon Asian names.

Follow Andrea on IG at @andreawhywang and check out his book The Many Meanings of Meilan at your local bookseller!

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