14 Must-Read Books Releasing in March 2025 By Asian Authors
Whether you're looking to dive into tales of family, love, identity, or resilience, this month’s book releases offer everything from heart-pounding fantasy to intimate memoirs and sharp contemporary fiction!
You Must Take Part in Revolution: A Graphic Novel by Badiucao (Artist), Melissa Chan
From acclaimed journalist Melissa Chan and esteemed activist artist Badiucao comes a near-future graphic novel dystopia that explores technology, authoritarian government, and the lengths that one will go to in the fight for freedom.
Three idealistic youths, forever transformed by the real-world protests in Hong Kong in 2019, develop diverging beliefs about how to best fight against techno-authoritarian China. As conflict escalates and a nuclear disaster looms, is working with an increasingly fascist and non-democratic United States the answer? Andy, Maggie, and Olivia travel different paths toward transformative change, each confronting to what extent they will fight for freedom, and who they will become in doing so.
A powerful and important book about global totalitarian futures, and the costs of resistance.
Publication date: March 4, 2025
Genres: Graphic Novel, Dystopian, Fiction
Pages: 264
Why should you read it? This near-future graphic novel by journalist Melissa Chan and activist artist Badiucao explores the complexities of resistance against techno-authoritarianism. Set against the backdrop of escalating global tensions and inspired by the 2019 Hong Kong protests, it follows three youths—Andy, Maggie, and Olivia—as they grapple with diverging beliefs on how to fight for freedom. As they confront moral dilemmas and a looming nuclear disaster, the story delves into the personal and political costs of resistance in a world edging toward totalitarianism.
Pieces You'll Never Get Back: A Memoir of Unlikely Survival by Samina Ali
A life-altering neurological disorder. A traumatic birth. An unlikely survival. Pieces You'll Never Get Back is a harrowing and redemptive memoir, in which a new mother must reconstruct her shattered mind, her relationship to her religious upbringing, and her life's purpose
At 29, as a young writer working on her first novel, Samina Ali nearly died giving birth to her son. Miraculously, she survived the unchecked eclampsia that had endangered her pregnancy, instead sustaining major brain injury and falling into a coma as she gave birth. When she woke up, only her deepest memories were intact. Her husband was a stranger to her, she didn’t remember having a baby, and any language other than her native Urdu was foreign. Medical consensus was she would never recover—much less write—again.
Advised to think of her brain as a shattered puzzle, Ali began the long and difficult journey of piecing herself back learning to walk, speak, and accomplish basic human tasks alongside her newborn. She attempted to reckon with her past identity as a writer and a wife, and her new identity as a mother. Despite her miraculous survival, the disconnect between the old and the new self was devastating. It would be three years before she felt remotely normal, and seven before she was mended and could fully connect with her son.
Ali pairs the story of her “death” and recovery with the parallel narrative of her relationship to her Islamic upbringing and her fluctuating connection to her faith, incorporating meditations on religious narratives of death, the afterlife, resurrection, and reincarnation. Both deeply personal and steeped in religious thought, Pieces You'll Never Get Back is a uniquely propulsive, searching, and ultimately, inspiring work of memoir.
Publication date: March 4, 2025
Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction
Pages: 272
Why should you read it? Pieces You'll Never Get Back is a powerful and inspiring memoir by Samina Ali, chronicling her near-death experience from a traumatic birth, the resulting brain injury, and her long, painful journey to reclaim her identity, language, and connection to her newborn son. As she relearns how to walk, speak, and mother, Ali also grapples with her relationship to her Islamic faith, weaving reflections on life, death, and spiritual rebirth. This deeply personal and thought-provoking story is a testament to resilience, survival, and the struggle to find meaning after unimaginable loss.
I Leave It Up to You by Jinwoo Chong
From the award-winning author of Flux comes a dazzling novel about love, family, and the art of sushi that asks: What if you could return to the point of a fateful choice, wiser than before, and find the courage to forge a new path?
A coma can change a man, but the world Jack Jr. awakens to is one he barely recognizes. His advertising job is history, his Manhattan apartment is gone, and the love of his life has left him behind. He’s been asleep for two years; with no one to turn to, he realizes it’s been ten years since he last saw his family.
Lost and disoriented, he makes a reluctant homecoming back to the bustling Korean American enclave of Fort Lee, New Jersey; back into the waiting arms of his parents, who are operating under the illusion he never left; and back to Joja, their ever-struggling sushi restaurant that he was set to inherit before he ran away from it all. As he steps back into the life he abandoned—learning his Appa’s life lessons over crates of tuna on bleary-eyed 4 AM fish runs, doling out amberjack behind the omakase counter while his Umma tallies the night's pitiful number of customers, and sparring with his recovering alcoholic brother, James—he embraces new roles, That of romantic interest to the male nurse who took care of him throughout, and that of sage (but underqualified) uncle to his gangly teenage nephew.
There is value in the joyous rhythms of this once-abandoned life. But second chances are an even messier business than running a restaurant, and the lure of a self-determined path might, once again, prove too hard to resist.
Why do we run from those we love, and why do we still love those who run from us? A highly entertaining and poignant story about second chances and self-discovery, I Leave It Up to You pilots through the loss, love, and absurdity of finding one’s footing after the ground gives way.
Publication date: March 4, 2025
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Queer
Pages: 320
Why should you read it? I Leave It Up to You is a poignant and entertaining novel about second chances, self-discovery, and the complexities of love and family. After waking from a two-year coma, Jack Jr. returns to the Korean American community he once fled, confronting the life he abandoned—his struggling family sushi restaurant, fractured relationships, and lost dreams. As he navigates rebuilding connections and redefining his future, the story explores the messy beauty of starting over and the courage it takes to embrace the life we once ran from.
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.
“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”
In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.
There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.
But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…
Publication date: March 4, 2025
Genres: Fiction, Novella, Fantasy
Pages: 144
Why should you read it? Set in the mystical town of Thistleford, Follow the River Liss is a haunting tale of sisterhood, magic, and sacrifice. Bound by love and an ancient pact to honor enchanted willows, sisters Esther and Ysabel's bond is tested when Esther defies tradition by choosing a lover from the land of Faerie. As their choices place them in danger, the story explores the strength of familial love and the peril of defying powerful forces. It's a lyrical, atmospheric read for those drawn to folklore, fantasy, and tales of unbreakable sisterhood.
The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji
A family confronts a past that is both keeping them together and preventing them from breaking free.
Meet the Valiat family. In Iran they were somebodies. In America they’re nobodies. First there is Elizabeth, the regal matriarch with the famously large nose who stayed in Tehran during the revolution. Her daughters, Shirin and Seema, left for America in 1979. She lives in a shabby apartment, paranoid and alone—except when she is visited by Niaz, her Islamic-law–breaking granddaughter who takes her debauchery with a side of purpose yet somehow manages to survive. The other granddaughter, Bita, is a self-righteous but lost law student spending her days in New York City eating pancakes and quietly giving away her belongings.
When an annual vacation in Aspen goes wildly awry and Shirin ends up being bailed out of jail by Bita, the family’s brittle status quo cracks open. Shirin embarks upon a grand but half-baked quest to restore the family name—but what does that even mean in a country where the Valiats never mattered? Will they ever realize that life is more than just an old story?
Publication date: March 4, 2025
Genres: Fiction, Novella, Fantasy
Pages: 384
Why should you read it? This compelling novel follows the Valiat family as they grapple with the weight of their past and the struggle to redefine themselves in America. Once prominent in Iran, they now navigate fractured identities, generational tensions, and cultural dislocation. When a family vacation unravels, exposing long-held secrets and desires, they must confront what it means to belong and whether clinging to the past is holding them back. It's a sharp, poignant exploration of identity, legacy, and the messy beauty of forging a new path.
Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope by Amanda Nguyen
A revelatory and powerful memoir by the Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amanda Nguyen, detailing her tumultuous childhood and groundbreaking activism in the aftermath of her rape at Harvard.
At a Harvard fraternity party in 2013, the trajectory of Amanda Nguyen’s life was changed forever when she was raped.
The American-born child of Vietnamese refugees, Nguyen had long dreamed of attending Harvard, and it had become a place of refuge from a childhood filled with turmoil and trauma. Determined to not let her rape derail the life she’d worked so hard to create, she opted for her rape kit to be filed under Jane Doe, knowing that an active court case tied to her name could hurt her odds of working for NASA after graduation, a goal she’d been working toward for years.
But she was shocked to learn this choice meant she had only six months to take action before the state of Massachusetts destroyed her kit, rendering any future legal action impossible. Nguyen knew then that she had to surrender to a law that effectively silenced survivors of sexual assault, or fight for a change.
A deeply affecting memoir of grief, survival, and hope, Saving Five details Nguyen’s winding journey of recovery and action, which ultimately led her to create the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, one of the only unanimously passed laws in the history of the United States. Both a tribute to resilience and a lesson on healing, Saving Five is an inspirational story for the ages.
Publication date: March 4, 2025
Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction
Pages: 224
Why should you read it? Saving Five is a powerful memoir by Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amanda Nguyen, chronicling her journey from surviving rape at Harvard to becoming a groundbreaking activist. Faced with unjust legal barriers that threatened to erase her case, Nguyen fought to change the system, ultimately drafting the Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights—one of the few unanimously passed U.S. laws. This deeply moving story of grief, resilience, and hope is both a personal testament to survival and an inspiring call to action for justice and change.
Counterattacks at Thirty by Sohn Won-Pyung, Sean Lin Halbert (translator)
From the bestselling author of ALMOND, The Devil Wears Prada meets The Office in this witty, humane, and ultimately transformative story of a group of young workers who rebel against the status quo.
Jihye is an ordinary woman who has never been extraordinary. In her administrative job at the Academy, she silently tolerates office politics and the absurdities of Korean bureaucracy. Forever only one misplaced email away from career catastrophe, she effectively becomes a master of the silent eye-roll and the tactical coffee run. But all her efforts to endure her superiors and the semi-hostile work environment they create are upended when a new intern, Gyuok Lee, arrives.
Like a pacifist version of V in V for Vendetta, Gyuok recruits a trio of office allies to carry out plans for minor revenge. Together, these four “rebels” commit tiny protests against those in more powerful positions through spraying graffiti, throwing eggs, and writing anonymous exposés. But as their attacks increase, the initial joy they felt at the release becomes something more and Jihye and the others will discover the beauty of friendship and the extraordinary power of unity against adversity.
Publication date: March 11, 2025
Genres: Translated Fiction, Contemporary
Pages: 240
Why should you read it? From the bestselling author of Almond comes a witty and transformative tale of office rebellion and friendship. In a stifling Korean bureaucracy, Jihye endures toxic workplace politics until a bold intern inspires her and a group of colleagues to push back with small acts of defiance. What starts as harmless protests evolves into a deeper exploration of camaraderie, resistance, and the power of collective action. The Devil Wears Prada meets The Office in this sharp, humane story about finding strength and solidarity in the face of adversity.
A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-ran, Chi-Young Kim (translator)
Discover the Korean runaway prizewinning bestseller for fans of LONELY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR and KLARA AND THE SUN
Let's all learn how to slow down ...
2035: In the shadow of a race course, a young woman finds a robot on a scrap heap, contemplating the sky. Intrigued, she takes him under her care. Together, they decide to rescue the race horse named Today who is heading for the knackers' yard after a lifetime of overwork. To make Today happy again, they hatch a special plan to let her run another race.
But it will be no ordinary event- they will train her to run the slowest time of her life.
In the heat of the race, Coli feels Today running too fast. She is in pain and will soon injure herself.
To save his beloved horse, Coli will commit one final act of bravery ...
Radiant, urgent, deeply moving, A Thousand Blues is a hymn to our earth and to our humanity, giving powerful voice to those left behind in a fast forward-moving world of toxic productivity and competition. Brimming with heart and hope and rage, it shows with vivid empathy and warmth how friendship, community and sacrifice will set us free.
Publication date: March 13, 2025
Genres: Translated Fiction, Science Fiction, Contemporary
Pages: 208
Why should you read it? A Thousand Blues is a poignant, award-winning Korean bestseller that explores friendship, sacrifice, and resisting a world obsessed with speed and productivity. Set in 2035, it follows a young woman and a contemplative robot who rescue an overworked racehorse, Today, and hatch a plan to let her run the slowest race of her life. This deeply moving tale is a powerful meditation on compassion, community, and the courage to challenge toxic competition, offering a hopeful reminder of what it means to be truly free. Perfect for fans of Lonely Castle in the Mirror and Klara and the Sun.
Semishigure by Shuhei Fujisawa, Thomas Harper (Translator)
When his father is accused of rebellion and forced to commit seppuku, it falls to Maki Bunshirô to protect his family’s house from future retribution. Training as a samurai, Bunshirô must hone his skills with the sword and make powerful allies among the elders of the domain if he hopes to survive. As he is navigating clan politics, the object of this youthful affection, Fuku, becomes the mistress of the lord of the domain. When Fuku and her child become the key to the future of the domain, Bunshirô is forced to choose between what his lord commands and his childhood love.
Semishigure, literally meaning “cicada showers,” refers to the everpresent noise of insects chirping in Japanese summers, a nostalgic reminder of the passing seasons. This much-loved, sentimental samurai novel by Fujisawa Shuhei, the undisputed master of the genre, is finally available in English, and Thomas Harper’s deft translation brings all of the power, longing, and joy of the original that has captivated generations of Japanese readers.
Publication date: March 14, 2025
Genres: Translated Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics
Pages: 403
Why should you read it? Semishigure is a timeless samurai novel by Fujisawa Shuhei that explores loyalty, love, and sacrifice in feudal Japan. When Maki Bunshirô's father is forced to commit seppuku, Bunshirô must navigate treacherous clan politics, master his swordsmanship, and protect his family's honor. As his childhood love, Fuku, becomes the mistress of the domain lord, Bunshirô faces a heart-wrenching choice between duty and love. Rich with nostalgia and the poignancy of passing seasons, this beloved classic—now available in English—offers a profound meditation on honor, resilience, and the bittersweet beauty of life's fleeting moments.
Hangry Hearts by Jennifer Chen
Love, family, and food collide in this sparkling Romeo and Juliet-inspired romance.
Julie Wu and Randall Hur used to be best friends. Now they only see each other on Saturdays at the Pasadena Farmers Market where their once close families are long-standing rivals.
When Julie and Randall are paired with ultra-rich London Kim for a community-service school project, they are forced to work together for the first time in years. It quickly becomes obvious that London has a major crush on Julie. But Julie can’t stop thinking about Randall. And Randall can’t stop thinking about how London is thinking about Julie. Soon, prompted by a little jealousy and years of missing each other, school project meetings turn into pseudo dates at their favorite Taiwanese breakfast shop and then secret kisses at the beach—far from the watchful eyes of their families.
Just as they’re finally feeling brave enough to tell their grandmas, the two matriarchs rehash their old fight and Julie and Randall get caught in the middle and Julie’s brother finds out they are dating. Their families are heartbroken.
But it’s the Year of the Dragon, an auspicious time to resolve disagreements and start anew, and Randall isn’t going down without fighting for what—and who—they love. Could the Lunar New Year provide not only a second chance for Randall and Julie, but for their families as well?
Jennifer Chen’s Hangry Hearts is a funny, big-hearted romance about friendship, family, and first love—and being brave enough to have it all.
Publication date: March 18, 2025
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Pages: 320
Why should you read it? Hangry Hearts is a charming, Romeo and Juliet-inspired romance about love, family, and the courage to bridge divides. Former best friends Julie and Randall, now caught between their feuding families, find themselves reconnecting through secret meetings, shared meals, and stolen kisses. As old rivalries threaten to keep them apart, the approaching Lunar New Year offers hope for reconciliation and new beginnings. Funny, heartfelt, and brimming with cultural warmth, this is a story about first love, family bonds, and fighting for happiness—even when it’s complicated.
I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan by Giaae Kwon
Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror meets Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings in a meditation that blends memoir and cultural criticism to explore how the author’s love affair with K-pop has shaped her sense of self, charting K-pop’s complex coming-of-age through some of its biggest idols.
I’ll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan is a smart, poignant, constantly surprising essay collection that considers the collision between stratospherically popular music and our inescapably personal selves. Giaae Kwon explores the influence of K-pop artists, from H.O.T. to Taeyeon to IU to Suga from BTS, and reveals how each one illuminated and shaped her own life.
In centering intimate experiences to explore larger cultural topics, this singular work breaks new ground in its consideration of K-pop. I’ll Love You Forever blends the critical with the personal while spanning the history of K-pop from the perspective of a bilingual and bicultural Korean American. Kwon interweaves profiles of different K-pop idols with topics such as Korea’s obsession with academics, and its attitudes toward plastic surgery, and female sexuality and desire, among others. Combining insightful critique and adoring analysis, I’ll Love You Forever provides readers with a fuller picture of a culturally and socially complex industry and the machine and heart behind its popularity. Through it all, Kwon offers up the passion of a superfan, finding joy in K-pop along the way.
Publication date: March 18, 2025
Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Essays
Pages: 336
Why should you read it? I’ll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan is a smart, poignant essay collection that blends memoir and cultural criticism to explore how K-pop has shaped author Giaae Kwon’s identity. Through personal reflections and sharp analysis, Kwon examines the influence of iconic idols like IU and BTS’s Suga, while unpacking broader cultural themes like Korea’s academic pressures, beauty standards, and female desire. Offering an intimate, bicultural perspective, this book is a heartfelt and insightful exploration of K-pop’s cultural complexity and the joy of fandom.
The Place of Shells by Mai Ishizawa, Polly Barton (Translator)
Winner of the Akutagawa Prize, a masterful novel about loss and memory in the aftermath of a horrifying ecological disaster.
In the summer of 2020, as Europe is beginning to open back up after the first phase of the pandemic, a young Japanese woman based in the German city of Göttingen is working on a PhD about the iconography of medieval saints. She waits at the train station to meet her old friend from graduate school, Nomiya, who died nine years earlier in Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, but has suddenly returned without any explanation.
When Nomiya arrives, the narrator guides him through Göttingen’s scale model of the solar system, talking about her studies, her roommate, and their mutual friends. Yet it isn’t long before his spectral presence in the city begins to fray the narrator’s psyche and destabilize the world beyond: eerie discoveries are made in the forest, Pluto begins disappearing and reappearing, and threads unravel in the fabric of time. The narrative continues to spiral and unfold to include the Japanese physicist Terada Torahiko, mysteriously sprouting teeth, and Saint Lucia, all set against the ever-lingering presence of death.
With a literary style reminiscent of W. G. Sebald, Yoko Tawada, and Yu Miri, The Place of Shells is a hypnotic, poetic novel that explores the ebb and flow of memory—its physical manifestations, its strange and sudden metaphors—and the overwhelming stranglehold of trauma.
Publication date: March 18, 2025
Genres: Translated Fiction, Contemporary
Pages: 160
Why should you read it? The Place of Shells, winner of the Akutagawa Prize, is a haunting and poetic novel that explores loss, memory, and the lingering impact of trauma. Set in post-pandemic Germany, it follows a Japanese PhD student whose deceased friend mysteriously reappears, unraveling her sense of reality. As time blurs and eerie occurrences unfold, the novel weaves themes of grief, history, and metaphysical wonder. Perfect for readers drawn to introspective, atmospheric narratives, this is a hypnotic meditation on how memory shapes—and haunts—our present.
Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin
From debut author Emily Yu-Xuan Qin comes a snarky urban fantasy novel inspired by Chinese and First Nation mythology and bursting with wit, compelling characters, and LGBTQIA+ representation
Readers of Seanan McGuire, Ilona Andrews, and Ben Aaronovitch will devour this gory story—and the sweet-as-Canadian-maple-syrup sapphic romance at its monstrous heart
Tam hasn’t eaten anyone in years.
She is now Mama’s soft-spoken, vegan daughter — everything dangerous about her is cut out, repressed. Medicated.
But when Tam’s estranged Aunt Tigress is found murdered and skinned, Tam inherits an undead fox in a shoebox and an ensemble of old enemies.
The demons, the ghosts, the gods running coffee shops by the river? Fine. The tentacled thing stalking Tam across the city? Absolutely not. And when Tam realizes the girl she’s falling in love with might be yet another loose end from her past? That’s just the brassy, beautiful cherry on top.
Because no matter how quietly she lives, Tam can’t hide from her voracious upbringing, nor the suffering she caused. As she navigates romance, redemption, and the end of the world, she can’t help but wonder…
Do monsters even deserve happy endings?
With worldbuilding inspired by Chinese folklore and the Siksiká Nation in Canada, LGBTQIA+ representation, and a sapphic romance, Aunt Tigress is at once familiar and breathtakingly innovative.
Publication date: March 18, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Adult, Queer
Pages: 432
Why should you read it? Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin is a sharp, witty urban fantasy that blends Chinese and First Nation mythology with LGBTQIA+ representation and a dark, sapphic romance. Tam, a reformed monster living a quiet, vegan life, is thrust back into a world of demons, ghosts, and gods after her estranged aunt is murdered. As she confronts her violent past and navigates a dangerous romance, Tam must decide if monsters like her deserve redemption—or happy endings. Perfect for fans of Seanan McGuire and Ilona Andrews, this is a bold, gory, and unforgettable tale of identity, love, and survival.
Tideborn (Drowned World #2) by Eliza Chan
A dragon queen, a vengeful sea witch, and a mythical titan converge on the underwater city of Tiankawi in the sequel to the international bestselling epic fantasy Fathomfolk.
The people of Tiankawi have been irrevocably changed. Once divided into two factions – humans and the underwater ‘fathomfolk’ – now every citizen is able to breathe underwater. But this new commonality is not enough to heal the scars of years of oppression. Mira, a siren and activist, must uncover a deadly conspiracy while persuading her divided people to band together to rebuild their city after a tsunami. And dragon princess Nami must undertake a daring sea voyage to do the to find a way to convince a Titan not to destroy their city for its crimes.
Publication date: March 25, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction
Pages: 384
Why should you read it? In the epic sequel to Fathomfolk, tensions simmer in the underwater city of Tiankawi, where humans and fathomfolk now share the ability to breathe underwater but remain divided by deep-rooted oppression. Activist siren Mira must unravel a deadly conspiracy while uniting her fractured people, and dragon princess Nami embarks on a perilous sea voyage to appease a vengeful Titan threatening their city's destruction. Brimming with political intrigue, high-stakes adventure, and rich worldbuilding, this is a gripping tale of resilience, unity, and the fight for survival.
