7 Books to Read for AANHPI Heritage Month and the Read Harder Challenge
May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! To celebrate, I’ve curated a list of fantastic books by AANHPI authors that also check off tasks on the 2025 Read Harder Challenge. We have a queer sci-fi heist story, a mystery, a graphic memoir, a much-anticipated fantasy novel, romance, weird horror, and poetry to choose from.
But of course, that doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the AANHPI books worth reading this month and every month. Scroll to the end of this list to find links to even more recommendations.
Task #1: Read a 2025 release by a BIPOC author.
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto
Be gay, do crime: This queer, debut sci-fi novel is a heist story! Once upon a time in future Hawai’i, Edie trusted Angel, and now Edie has spent eight years in prison. Womp womp. Then Edie gets word that early parole is available—they just have to do one last job. For Angel. Edie thinks it would be outrageous to trust Angel again. But they’d also really like to get out of prison, so Edie agrees. What could go wrong? —Liberty Hardy
Task #3: Read a queer mystery.
The Verifiers (Claudia Lin Book 1) by Jane Pek
All Claudia Lin’s traditional Chinese family wants for her is to find a nice, safe career and a nice, safe Chinese boy. But Claudia likes girls and isn’t down with all that model minority stuff. In fact, she’s just been recruited by a secretive, referrals-only online dating detective agency. As a lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, she’s pretty jazzed about this. But when a client goes missing, Claudia’s digging uncovers goings on at the company she was never meant to know about… —Vanessa Diaz
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Task #5: Read a book about immigration or refugees.
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
This is one of my all-time favorite graphic memoirs. In it, Bui answers her own long-held questions about the Vietnam War’s impact on her parents and their flight to the U.S. to escape war. After navigating the past with her parents to write an oral history as a graduate student, Bui learned to draw and put their story to page. The present mingles with the past as she considers the birth of her first child and her new role as a parent, shifting her perspective towards her own parents, and as her mother and father come of age in wartime Vietnam, full of hopes and dreams and then taking harrowing risks and making sacrifices to get their family to safety. I still think about this book many years after reading it. —S. Zainab Williams
Task #6: Read a standalone fantasy book.
Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (August 26)
One of the biggest releases of the year is Katabasis, from R. F. Kuang, the author of Yellowface, Babel, and more. A student of Magick must descend into the realms of Hell to save her professor, after an accident (that was possibly her fault) kills him. Alice needs Professor Grimes to achieve her dreams of being the most powerful magician, but her bitter rival, Peter, also has the same idea. Now they must traverse Hell together, unsure if they can trust one another, in a race to save their professor and their futures. Prediction: It’s getting hot in here, so take off with your foes… (Sorry, not sorry.) —Liberty Hardy
Task #10: Read a romance book that doesn’t have an illustrated cover.
Trade Me by Courtney Milan
Chinese American author Courtney Milan writes a number of historical romances, but she has also written this delightful contemporary romance series called the Cyclone Series. Milan kicks off the series with this new adult romance starring Tina Chen. As Tina struggles to make ends meet between her job and college classes, she finds herself calling out her sexy billionaire classmate Blake Reynolds for his snarky comments about money during class. Much to her surprise, Blake offers to switch places with her for one semester. —Megan Mabee
Task #11: Read a work of weird horror.
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim
A new horror author bombshell has entered the villa. It’s always exciting to find a new voice in horror, especially one this unique, thought-provoking, and freaking wild. Not for the faint of heart, The Eyes are the Best Part tells the story of a young woman who finds herself oddly fascinated by eating eyeballs after her father leaves her mother for another woman. If you love horror that’s not afraid of being weird, and if you love horror where despicable men get what they deserve, you’ve got to pick this one up. —Emily Martin
Task #17: Read a book about little-known history.
Iep Jāltok by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner
This poetry collection is by a Marshallese poet and activist. Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner’s work explores Marshallese tradition and culture, the ongoing effects of colonialism, the impact of American nuclear testing, and the threat of climate change on the islands. While it covers a lot of topics, it keeps returning to the nuclear testing on the Marshall Islands, which is a little-discussed historical event that continues to have devastating consequences for Marshallese people. —Danika Ellis
For even more great AANHPI reads, check out these lists:
Which books would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments!