NYWW Board Members offer their personal picks for books of 2021 (or of years gone by).
Please buy books from your favorite independent bookstore, or online at bookshop.org.
Most of these NYWW Board Picks are hotlinked to bookshop.org.
Tim Tomlinson’s picks
These are always difficult lists for me to compile since most of my reading dives into the past. That said, I still get around to some new releases and this year’s list references a few. Here’s my picks:
The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah Jones
Easy to understand why this one rattles the IWSCPs (imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchs—thank you, bell hooks). It doesn’t just shake the buildings, it shakes the tectonic plates. Hold on—the bumpy ride is just beginning.
Afterparties, Anthony Veasna So
Stories from a brilliant young writer whose passing just weeks before publication is one of the year’s greatest losses
Who They Was, Gabriel Krauze
Hybrid tales from the London estates in Kilburn, rife with intoxicating slang, frightening with implications.
Last Evenings on Earth, Roberto Bolaño
You enter this world, you stay in this world. You even come to like it, but why you’ll never know.
Craft in the Real World, Matthew Salesses
An unpacking of the creative writing workshop that, like the Nikole Hannah Jones above, shakes the tectonic plates. A provocative, important book for workshop leaders, participants, and institutions.
Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror, Carlos Basualdo and Scott Rothkopf
This catalogue, for the concurrent retrospective exhibitions of Johns’s vast output at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, gathers essays that range from historical, art historical, and speculative, from curators, art historians, and literary writers the likes of Terrance Hayes and Colm Tobin. Johns said, do something to an object, then do something else. Not a bad place to start for writers.
The Copenhagen Trilogy, Tove Ditlevsen
A riveting account of literary ambition forged out of cultural and economic deprivation.
Ditvelsen’s work set me off on a memoir kick. These three grabbed me.
How I Became Hettie Jones, Hettie Jones
Memoirs of a Beatnik, Diane di Prima
Feelings are Facts, Yvonne Rainer
The Jones and the di Prima depict a long lost New York City (the New York City I love, but missed, like the proverbial wave). So does the Rainer. The first two, like the Ditlevson, concern aspiring writers, the third a dancer-filmmaker. Sex is also very much on the minds of these memoirists. Gore Vidal said that in the 1950s only three Americans were fucking: himself, Tennessee Williams, and JFK, and that left all the women to Jack. The accounts of these three women suggest something else. In each case, the fucking of the 50s leads the way to the more and merrier 60s.
Correctional, Ravi Shankar
And while I’m on memoirs, this. Shankar provides a detailed account of his family’s migration from India to the US, and his trajectory from celebrated poet/editor and professor to inmate of the Hartford Correctional Center, the Connecticut prison that forms some of the book’s most riveting scenes. Another important book that explores the 1619 turf of America’s “justice” system.
Oblivion, Robin Hemley
In this wildly and hilariously inventive posthumous autobiography by an author very much alive, Hemley explores both family history and the career misery of the mid-list writer. With a Kafka quest that echoes Flaubert’s Parrot.
And three current releases in poetry:
Post-Mortem, Heather Altfeld
In “The Apoacalypse Club,” Altfeld writes, “Let’s face it, the end of days titillates …” The collection supports the claim.
Love and Other Poems, Alex Dimitrov
A collection firmly ensconced in New York City, and in the New York School circa now.
Earthly Delights, Troy Jollimore
With a sense of humor part Coen Brothers, part Slavoj Zizek, the poet-philosopher takes on the movies, and existence.
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's picks
Every year at the holidays, I love to share the joy of Asian American authors. Here are some of 2021’s best new books:
“The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice” edited by Mai-Linh K. Hong, Chrissy Yee Lau, and Preeti Sharma; with Kristina Wong, Rebecca Solnit, and many other Aunties, University of California Press, 2021. The story of the Auntie Sewing Squad, founded by performance artist Kristina Wong, a massive mutual-aid network of mostly Asian American volunteer aunties who sewed and distributed free masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Crying in H Mart: A Memoir” by Michelle Zauner, Knopf Publishing Group, 2021; New York Times Best Seller, and a Best Book of 2021 by Time, Entertainment Weekly, Good Morning America, Wall Street Journal. A lyrical memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity.
“Arsenic and Adobo” by Mia P Manansala, Berkley Books, 2021. The first book of Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mysteries, this romcom murder mystery is full of sharp humor, delectable dishes, and a trusty dachshund named Longanisa. CrimeReads, Buzzfeed, BookRiot’s most anticipated crime book of 2021.
“Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown” by Brandon Jew and Tienlon Ho, Ten Speed Press, 2021. The acclaimed chef behind the Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s restaurant shares the past, present, and future of Chinese cooking in America through 90 mouthwatering recipes.
“The Committed” by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Grove Press, 2021. The sequel to “The Sympathizer,” which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, tells the story of "the man of two minds" as he comes as a refugee to France and turns his hand to capitalism.
“Correctional: A Memoir” by Ravi Shankar, University of Wisconsin Press, 2021. Poetry professor and only son of South Indian American immigrants reflects on his unexpected encounters with law and order through the lenses of race, class, and privilege, and challenges us to rethink our complicity in the criminal justice system and mental health policies.
“The Bad Muslim Discount” by Syed M Masood, Doubleday Books, 2021. Debut novel that follows two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, an inclusive comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America.
If you are still searching for gift ideas this holiday season, here are some new 2021 Asian American children’s books, from picture books to middle school graphic novels to YA nonfiction.
“From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement,” by Paula Yoo, Norton Young Readers, 2021; For young adult readers, the 1982 baseball bat killing of Vincent Chin and how it brought the Asian American community together in protest and civil rights justice. Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
“The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee,” by Julie Leung (Author) Julie Kwon (Illustrator), Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2021; An inspiring picture book biography about Hazel Ying Lee, the first Chinese American woman to fly for the U.S. military.
“Eyes That Kiss in the Corners,” by Joanna Ho (Author) Dung Ho (Illustrator), HarperCollins, 2021; A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers'. Her eyes are like her mother's, her grandmother's, and her little sister's. They have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea, crinkle into crescent moons. A New York Times Bestseller and #1 Indie Bestseller.
“I Dream of Popo,” by Livia Blackburne (Author) Julia Kuo (Illustrator), Roaring Brook Press, 2021; When a young girl and her family emigrate from Taiwan to America, she leaves behind her beloved popo, her grandmother. She misses her popo every day, but their love is ever true and strong.
“From the Tops of the Trees,” by Kao Kalia Yang (Author) Rachel Wada (Illustrator), Carolrhoda Books, 2021; “Father, is all of the world a refugee camp?” Young Kalia has never known life beyond the fences of the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand. Her father leads her to the tallest tree in the camp and shows her the spread of a world beyond.
“Piece by Piece: The Story of Nisrin's Hijab,” by Priya Huq, Amulet Books, 2021; In this middle-grade graphic novel, Nisrin, a 13-year-old Bangladeshi American girl living in Oregon, gives a presentation for eighth grade World Culture Day about Bangladesh while wearing a traditional cultural dress. On her way home, she is the victim of a hate crime when a man violently attacks her for wearing a headscarf.
“Finding Junie Kim,” by Ellen Oh, HarperCollins, 2021; When Junie Kim is faced with middle school racism, she learns of her grandparents' extraordinary strength and compassion during the Korean War and finds her voice. This middle grade novel is from Ellen Oh, cofounder of We Need Diverse Books.
Bonus gift: Grace Lin’s 2022 “Where the Mountain Meets the Moon” trilogy calendar.
Most of these NYWW Board Picks are hotlinked to bookshop.org.
Tim Tomlinson’s picks
These are always difficult lists for me to compile since most of my reading dives into the past. That said, I still get around to some new releases and this year’s list references a few. Here’s my picks:
The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah Jones
Easy to understand why this one rattles the IWSCPs (imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchs—thank you, bell hooks). It doesn’t just shake the buildings, it shakes the tectonic plates. Hold on—the bumpy ride is just beginning.
Afterparties, Anthony Veasna So
Stories from a brilliant young writer whose passing just weeks before publication is one of the year’s greatest losses
Who They Was, Gabriel Krauze
Hybrid tales from the London estates in Kilburn, rife with intoxicating slang, frightening with implications.
Last Evenings on Earth, Roberto Bolaño
You enter this world, you stay in this world. You even come to like it, but why you’ll never know.
Craft in the Real World, Matthew Salesses
An unpacking of the creative writing workshop that, like the Nikole Hannah Jones above, shakes the tectonic plates. A provocative, important book for workshop leaders, participants, and institutions.
Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror, Carlos Basualdo and Scott Rothkopf
This catalogue, for the concurrent retrospective exhibitions of Johns’s vast output at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, gathers essays that range from historical, art historical, and speculative, from curators, art historians, and literary writers the likes of Terrance Hayes and Colm Tobin. Johns said, do something to an object, then do something else. Not a bad place to start for writers.
The Copenhagen Trilogy, Tove Ditlevsen
A riveting account of literary ambition forged out of cultural and economic deprivation.
Ditvelsen’s work set me off on a memoir kick. These three grabbed me.
How I Became Hettie Jones, Hettie Jones
Memoirs of a Beatnik, Diane di Prima
Feelings are Facts, Yvonne Rainer
The Jones and the di Prima depict a long lost New York City (the New York City I love, but missed, like the proverbial wave). So does the Rainer. The first two, like the Ditlevson, concern aspiring writers, the third a dancer-filmmaker. Sex is also very much on the minds of these memoirists. Gore Vidal said that in the 1950s only three Americans were fucking: himself, Tennessee Williams, and JFK, and that left all the women to Jack. The accounts of these three women suggest something else. In each case, the fucking of the 50s leads the way to the more and merrier 60s.
Correctional, Ravi Shankar
And while I’m on memoirs, this. Shankar provides a detailed account of his family’s migration from India to the US, and his trajectory from celebrated poet/editor and professor to inmate of the Hartford Correctional Center, the Connecticut prison that forms some of the book’s most riveting scenes. Another important book that explores the 1619 turf of America’s “justice” system.
Oblivion, Robin Hemley
In this wildly and hilariously inventive posthumous autobiography by an author very much alive, Hemley explores both family history and the career misery of the mid-list writer. With a Kafka quest that echoes Flaubert’s Parrot.
And three current releases in poetry:
Post-Mortem, Heather Altfeld
In “The Apoacalypse Club,” Altfeld writes, “Let’s face it, the end of days titillates …” The collection supports the claim.
Love and Other Poems, Alex Dimitrov
A collection firmly ensconced in New York City, and in the New York School circa now.
Earthly Delights, Troy Jollimore
With a sense of humor part Coen Brothers, part Slavoj Zizek, the poet-philosopher takes on the movies, and existence.
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's picks
Every year at the holidays, I love to share the joy of Asian American authors. Here are some of 2021’s best new books:
“The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice” edited by Mai-Linh K. Hong, Chrissy Yee Lau, and Preeti Sharma; with Kristina Wong, Rebecca Solnit, and many other Aunties, University of California Press, 2021. The story of the Auntie Sewing Squad, founded by performance artist Kristina Wong, a massive mutual-aid network of mostly Asian American volunteer aunties who sewed and distributed free masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Crying in H Mart: A Memoir” by Michelle Zauner, Knopf Publishing Group, 2021; New York Times Best Seller, and a Best Book of 2021 by Time, Entertainment Weekly, Good Morning America, Wall Street Journal. A lyrical memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity.
“Arsenic and Adobo” by Mia P Manansala, Berkley Books, 2021. The first book of Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mysteries, this romcom murder mystery is full of sharp humor, delectable dishes, and a trusty dachshund named Longanisa. CrimeReads, Buzzfeed, BookRiot’s most anticipated crime book of 2021.
“Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown” by Brandon Jew and Tienlon Ho, Ten Speed Press, 2021. The acclaimed chef behind the Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s restaurant shares the past, present, and future of Chinese cooking in America through 90 mouthwatering recipes.
“The Committed” by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Grove Press, 2021. The sequel to “The Sympathizer,” which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, tells the story of "the man of two minds" as he comes as a refugee to France and turns his hand to capitalism.
“Correctional: A Memoir” by Ravi Shankar, University of Wisconsin Press, 2021. Poetry professor and only son of South Indian American immigrants reflects on his unexpected encounters with law and order through the lenses of race, class, and privilege, and challenges us to rethink our complicity in the criminal justice system and mental health policies.
“The Bad Muslim Discount” by Syed M Masood, Doubleday Books, 2021. Debut novel that follows two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, an inclusive comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America.
If you are still searching for gift ideas this holiday season, here are some new 2021 Asian American children’s books, from picture books to middle school graphic novels to YA nonfiction.
“From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement,” by Paula Yoo, Norton Young Readers, 2021; For young adult readers, the 1982 baseball bat killing of Vincent Chin and how it brought the Asian American community together in protest and civil rights justice. Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
“The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee,” by Julie Leung (Author) Julie Kwon (Illustrator), Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2021; An inspiring picture book biography about Hazel Ying Lee, the first Chinese American woman to fly for the U.S. military.
“Eyes That Kiss in the Corners,” by Joanna Ho (Author) Dung Ho (Illustrator), HarperCollins, 2021; A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers'. Her eyes are like her mother's, her grandmother's, and her little sister's. They have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea, crinkle into crescent moons. A New York Times Bestseller and #1 Indie Bestseller.
“I Dream of Popo,” by Livia Blackburne (Author) Julia Kuo (Illustrator), Roaring Brook Press, 2021; When a young girl and her family emigrate from Taiwan to America, she leaves behind her beloved popo, her grandmother. She misses her popo every day, but their love is ever true and strong.
“From the Tops of the Trees,” by Kao Kalia Yang (Author) Rachel Wada (Illustrator), Carolrhoda Books, 2021; “Father, is all of the world a refugee camp?” Young Kalia has never known life beyond the fences of the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand. Her father leads her to the tallest tree in the camp and shows her the spread of a world beyond.
“Piece by Piece: The Story of Nisrin's Hijab,” by Priya Huq, Amulet Books, 2021; In this middle-grade graphic novel, Nisrin, a 13-year-old Bangladeshi American girl living in Oregon, gives a presentation for eighth grade World Culture Day about Bangladesh while wearing a traditional cultural dress. On her way home, she is the victim of a hate crime when a man violently attacks her for wearing a headscarf.
“Finding Junie Kim,” by Ellen Oh, HarperCollins, 2021; When Junie Kim is faced with middle school racism, she learns of her grandparents' extraordinary strength and compassion during the Korean War and finds her voice. This middle grade novel is from Ellen Oh, cofounder of We Need Diverse Books.
Bonus gift: Grace Lin’s 2022 “Where the Mountain Meets the Moon” trilogy calendar.
2020 Picks
Please buy books from your favorite independent bookstore, or online at bookshop.org.
Most of these NYWW Board Picks are hotlinked to bookshop.org.
Several are not due to lack of availability.
Christina Chiu’s picks
Fiction
Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart
Book of the Little Ax, Lauren Francis-Sharma
The Lazarus Project, Aleksandar Hemon
The Resisters, Gish Jen
The World Doesn’t Require You, Rion Amilcar Scott
Glorious Boy, Aimee Liu
Stay Up With Hugo Best, Erin Somers
Non-Fiction
The Shadow System, Sylvia A. Harvey
Losing the Atmosphere, Vivian Conan
KILO, Toby Muse
YA
Finding My Voice, Marie Myung-Ok Lee
Farah Rocks Fifth Grade, Susan Muaddi Darraj
Taylor Before and After, Jennie Englund
Poetry
Mouth Full of Seeds, Marcela Sulak
Slide to Unloc, Julie Bloemeke
Charles Salzberg’s picks
Fiction
Beauty, Christina Chiu
Madness of the Q, Gray Basnight
Dead West, Matt Goldman
Lucky Bones, Michael Wiley
Nonfiction
Losing the Atmosphere, Vivian Conan
Concealed, Esther Amini
Curious Hours, Casey Cep
The Third Rainbow Girl, Emma Copley Eisenberg
Demagogue, Larry Tye
We Keep the Dead Close, Becky Cooper
Chaos, Tom O'Neill
Tim Tomlinson’s picks
It’s rare that I get to read any year’s current crop of releases. Usually, I’m catching up a year, or two, or ten, later. So rather than give a “best of” list, I’ll identify the ten books that connected with me deeply in 2020.
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's top 8 book recs of 2020 (and one 2021)
Everything Naomi Loved
by Katie Yamasaki (Author, Illustrator), Ian Lendler (Author)
Norton Young Readers
Children's picture book
Katie Yamasaki’s Murals Probe Complex Issues of Race and Justice, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in Hour Detroit
"Yamasaki’s children’s picture books also explore themes of race and justice in stories that reflect Detroit and the issues that young people here face today. In Everything Naomi Loved (Norton Young Readers, 2020), for instance, a girl notices changes in her neighborhood as gentrification bears down on it. She decides to paint a mural of everything in her neighborhood that she loves so there will be a record of it. “You might feel devastated that the restaurant is moving, but you can also be painting, and you’re loving painting, and then a dog walks by and licks your leg and that’s hilarious,” she says. “It might feel weird to feel that you’re laughing out loud when something terrible is happening, but that’s just the human experience.”"
Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon, Simran Jeet Singh (Author), Baljinder Kaur (Illustrator)
Penguin Random House
Children's picture book
The Most Beautiful Thing, Kao Kalia Yang (Author), Khoa Le (Illustrator)
Carolrhoda Books
Children's picture book
David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College, Ed Lin Kaya Press
Fiction
The Day the Moon Split in Two: A Grief Poetry Collection, Tanzila Ahmed
Independently published
Poetry
Before We Remember We Dream, Bryan Thao Worra (Author), Nor Sanavongsay (Illustrator)
Sahtu Press
Poetry
Xi'an Famous Foods: The Cuisine of Western China, from New York's Favorite Noodle Shop, Jason Wang (Author), Jenny Huang (Photographer), Jessica Chou (Contributor)
Harry N. Abrams Books
Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping (coming January 19, 2021), Matthew Salesses
Catapult
On Writing
Ravi Shankar’s picks
Nonfiction
Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, Isabel Wikerson
As an Indian American, I have to put Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wikerson at the top of my nonfiction books for the year. As she defines it, "caste focuses in on the infrastructure of our divisions and the rankings, whereas race is the metric that's used to determine one's place in that." There are some stunning revelations in that book such as the fact that the Nazi's considered America's "one drop rule," which maintained that a person with any amount of 'black'' blood would be considered so in th eyes of the law, to extreme for their own Arayan ideas! It's necessary reading.
Biography
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, Heather Clark
This mammoth biograpy recovers the three-dimensionality of a poet who has slipped into popular culture as referrent for madness and suicide, a bleak joke which ignores her extraordinary contriution to literature. I always think of Sylvia Plath when I doubt the aesthetics of detachment because there could never have been an Arial without that tempestuous emotion and re-contextualizes Ted Hughes as neither monster nor martyr, but a flawed man, like Sylvia. Joins the list of very best writers biographies for me.
Fiction
A Burning, Megha Majumdar
Isn't this what we are all afraid of? Social media gone amiss? In this taut and engaging debut novel, the protagonist Jivan is a Muslim girl who is accused of a terroist attack because of naive comment made on Facebook. It is spellbinding and traces the largest themes of extremism and modernity with the most delicate of verbal brushes.
Poetry
How to Wash a Heart (Pavilion), Bhanu Kapil
I'm so glad to see that one of the finest poets of her generation is finally getting the attention that she deserves. This poem is about immigration as a conceptual and metaphoric reality and the formally inventive poem are searing. She nails what it is like to be an artist in lines like:
As your guest, I trained myself
To beautify
Our collective trauma.
YA
Furia, Yamile Saied Méndez
Bend it like Beckham meet Camilla "Furia" Hassan, a headstrong 17 year-old living in Rosario, Chile to an abusive family; this book is polyglot and mixes Spanish words with dialogue and vivid details from the country of Pablo Neruda. Though it's meant for 7th graders, it tackles mature subjects in a sensitive way and it is about the beautiful game, futbol, in a moment when the legend Diego Maradona has just passed away so I have to give this nod to girl power and the idea that a movie about a British Indian teen can become the inspiration for a book about a Chilean teen. Now that rocks!
Translation
The Disaster Tourist, Yun Ko-eun, translated from the Korean by Lizzie Buehler
I realize that a lot of my top choices were going to the big houses, so here's a book by Counterpoint Press that's dark, surrealistic, and timely, offering a take on the #metoo movement that is truly original. Call it a feminist eco-thriller or the newst in a line of strident international voices that are shaking the landscape of US letters, but this book resonates with real power.
Graphic Novel
Flake, Matthew Dooley
Matthew Dooley's Flake which is set in a north English town and full of comic local interactions, pub quizzes and the enduring power of friendship is like watching Wallace & Grommit as claymation. The story is touching and absurd; it's about a man obsessed with ice cream and the illustrations heart-warming which just enough of a sardonic edge to make the action lively, comic and highly relatable.
Most of these NYWW Board Picks are hotlinked to bookshop.org.
Several are not due to lack of availability.
Christina Chiu’s picks
Fiction
Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart
Book of the Little Ax, Lauren Francis-Sharma
The Lazarus Project, Aleksandar Hemon
The Resisters, Gish Jen
The World Doesn’t Require You, Rion Amilcar Scott
Glorious Boy, Aimee Liu
Stay Up With Hugo Best, Erin Somers
Non-Fiction
The Shadow System, Sylvia A. Harvey
Losing the Atmosphere, Vivian Conan
KILO, Toby Muse
YA
Finding My Voice, Marie Myung-Ok Lee
Farah Rocks Fifth Grade, Susan Muaddi Darraj
Taylor Before and After, Jennie Englund
Poetry
Mouth Full of Seeds, Marcela Sulak
Slide to Unloc, Julie Bloemeke
Charles Salzberg’s picks
Fiction
Beauty, Christina Chiu
Madness of the Q, Gray Basnight
Dead West, Matt Goldman
Lucky Bones, Michael Wiley
Nonfiction
Losing the Atmosphere, Vivian Conan
Concealed, Esther Amini
Curious Hours, Casey Cep
The Third Rainbow Girl, Emma Copley Eisenberg
Demagogue, Larry Tye
We Keep the Dead Close, Becky Cooper
Chaos, Tom O'Neill
Tim Tomlinson’s picks
It’s rare that I get to read any year’s current crop of releases. Usually, I’m catching up a year, or two, or ten, later. So rather than give a “best of” list, I’ll identify the ten books that connected with me deeply in 2020.
- Oblivion Banjo, Charles Wright
— a venerable poet’s collected work—quite a volume - Palestine’s Children, Ghassan Kanafani
— a collection from the Palestinian master, including “Returning to Haifa” - Screen Tests, Kate Zambreno
— a trove of difficult-to-define delights - So We Can Glow, Leesa Cross-Smith
— another trove, but with this one you know what you’re reading: a natural born storyteller - Normal People, Sally Rooney
— fiction the old-fashioned way: with a plot; makes you feel like you’re back in 11th grade, and relieved that you’re not - Mean, Myriam Gurba
— a coming-of-age memoir rich with piss and vinegar - Stories & Texts for Nothing, Samuel Beckett
— where so much of today was invented fifty years ago - Paul Klee (Diaries and Theoretical Writings), Paul Klee
— “Often I said that I served Beauty by drawing her enemies…” An important point for the writers of “unlikeable” characters - You Beneath Your Skin, Damyanti Biswas
— a disturbing novel about a disturbing crime against women - Luster, Raven Leilani
— “…a depressing intergenerational love story with a heart of noir…” says Gabino Iglesias of NPR. Who can resist that?
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's top 8 book recs of 2020 (and one 2021)
Everything Naomi Loved
by Katie Yamasaki (Author, Illustrator), Ian Lendler (Author)
Norton Young Readers
Children's picture book
Katie Yamasaki’s Murals Probe Complex Issues of Race and Justice, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in Hour Detroit
"Yamasaki’s children’s picture books also explore themes of race and justice in stories that reflect Detroit and the issues that young people here face today. In Everything Naomi Loved (Norton Young Readers, 2020), for instance, a girl notices changes in her neighborhood as gentrification bears down on it. She decides to paint a mural of everything in her neighborhood that she loves so there will be a record of it. “You might feel devastated that the restaurant is moving, but you can also be painting, and you’re loving painting, and then a dog walks by and licks your leg and that’s hilarious,” she says. “It might feel weird to feel that you’re laughing out loud when something terrible is happening, but that’s just the human experience.”"
Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon, Simran Jeet Singh (Author), Baljinder Kaur (Illustrator)
Penguin Random House
Children's picture book
The Most Beautiful Thing, Kao Kalia Yang (Author), Khoa Le (Illustrator)
Carolrhoda Books
Children's picture book
David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College, Ed Lin Kaya Press
Fiction
The Day the Moon Split in Two: A Grief Poetry Collection, Tanzila Ahmed
Independently published
Poetry
Before We Remember We Dream, Bryan Thao Worra (Author), Nor Sanavongsay (Illustrator)
Sahtu Press
Poetry
Xi'an Famous Foods: The Cuisine of Western China, from New York's Favorite Noodle Shop, Jason Wang (Author), Jenny Huang (Photographer), Jessica Chou (Contributor)
Harry N. Abrams Books
Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping (coming January 19, 2021), Matthew Salesses
Catapult
On Writing
Ravi Shankar’s picks
Nonfiction
Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, Isabel Wikerson
As an Indian American, I have to put Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wikerson at the top of my nonfiction books for the year. As she defines it, "caste focuses in on the infrastructure of our divisions and the rankings, whereas race is the metric that's used to determine one's place in that." There are some stunning revelations in that book such as the fact that the Nazi's considered America's "one drop rule," which maintained that a person with any amount of 'black'' blood would be considered so in th eyes of the law, to extreme for their own Arayan ideas! It's necessary reading.
Biography
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, Heather Clark
This mammoth biograpy recovers the three-dimensionality of a poet who has slipped into popular culture as referrent for madness and suicide, a bleak joke which ignores her extraordinary contriution to literature. I always think of Sylvia Plath when I doubt the aesthetics of detachment because there could never have been an Arial without that tempestuous emotion and re-contextualizes Ted Hughes as neither monster nor martyr, but a flawed man, like Sylvia. Joins the list of very best writers biographies for me.
Fiction
A Burning, Megha Majumdar
Isn't this what we are all afraid of? Social media gone amiss? In this taut and engaging debut novel, the protagonist Jivan is a Muslim girl who is accused of a terroist attack because of naive comment made on Facebook. It is spellbinding and traces the largest themes of extremism and modernity with the most delicate of verbal brushes.
Poetry
How to Wash a Heart (Pavilion), Bhanu Kapil
I'm so glad to see that one of the finest poets of her generation is finally getting the attention that she deserves. This poem is about immigration as a conceptual and metaphoric reality and the formally inventive poem are searing. She nails what it is like to be an artist in lines like:
As your guest, I trained myself
To beautify
Our collective trauma.
YA
Furia, Yamile Saied Méndez
Bend it like Beckham meet Camilla "Furia" Hassan, a headstrong 17 year-old living in Rosario, Chile to an abusive family; this book is polyglot and mixes Spanish words with dialogue and vivid details from the country of Pablo Neruda. Though it's meant for 7th graders, it tackles mature subjects in a sensitive way and it is about the beautiful game, futbol, in a moment when the legend Diego Maradona has just passed away so I have to give this nod to girl power and the idea that a movie about a British Indian teen can become the inspiration for a book about a Chilean teen. Now that rocks!
Translation
The Disaster Tourist, Yun Ko-eun, translated from the Korean by Lizzie Buehler
I realize that a lot of my top choices were going to the big houses, so here's a book by Counterpoint Press that's dark, surrealistic, and timely, offering a take on the #metoo movement that is truly original. Call it a feminist eco-thriller or the newst in a line of strident international voices that are shaking the landscape of US letters, but this book resonates with real power.
Graphic Novel
Flake, Matthew Dooley
Matthew Dooley's Flake which is set in a north English town and full of comic local interactions, pub quizzes and the enduring power of friendship is like watching Wallace & Grommit as claymation. The story is touching and absurd; it's about a man obsessed with ice cream and the illustrations heart-warming which just enough of a sardonic edge to make the action lively, comic and highly relatable.