Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is a time to pay tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans who have contributed to and enriched U.S. history, progress, innovation, and culture.
It’s also important to use this month to continue bringing awareness to the ongoing discrimination and inequities facing Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans in the workplace, especially within the broader context of continued anti-Asian violence and hate crimes which rose during the pandemic but haven’t come back down. While wage gaps vary by ethnic subgroups, as a whole, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander American women are paid just $0.80 for every dollar paid to white men when looking at both full- and part-time workers. Globally, Asian employees feel the least included in the workplace of any racial group, and in the U.S., only 26% of Asian American workers feel represented in leadership positions at work, compared to 43% of workers overall. Stats like these are why Syndio is committed to providing actionable solutions to improve workplace equity outcomes related to pay, representation, and opportunity.
To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we sent out a request to the Syndio team on our #diversity-inclusion-heritage-pride Slack channel. Below, we’ve curated a collection of our team’s favorite memoirs, novels, graphic novels, documentaries, movies, and tv shows that showcase Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage, voices, achievements, and stories.
Nonfiction books
My Life: Growing Up Asian in America
Edited by CAPE
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir
by Michelle Zaumer
Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life
by Ali Wong
The Night Parade: A Speculative Memoir
by Jami Nakamura Lin
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
by Cathy Park Hong
Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story
by Mazie K. Hirono
Know My Name
by Chanel Miller
Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir
by Elizabeth Miki Brina
What We Carry: A Memoir
by Maya Shanbhag Lang
Fairest
by Meredith Talusan
Fiction
The Three-Body Problem
by Cixin Liu
Front Desk
by Kelly Yang
Exhalation
by Ted Chiang
The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
The Bonesetter’s Daughter
by Amy Tan
When You Trap a Tiger
by Tae Keller
The Silence that Binds Us
by Joanna Ho
How Much of These Hills is Gold
by C Pam Zhang
Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
by Ken Liu
House of Many Gods
by Kiana Davenport
Interior Chinatown
by Charles Yu
Snow Falling on Cedars
by David Guterson
Things We Lost to the Water
by Eric Nguyen
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
by Lisa See
Graphic novels
They Called Us Enemy
by George Takei
The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir
by Thi Bui
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations
by Mira Jacob
Poetry & essays
Go Home!
Edited by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
Rose
By Li-Young Lee
Trick Mirror
by Jia Tolentino
Documentaries & comedy specials
OMOIYARI: A Song Film by Kishi Bashi
Take Out with Lisa Ling
Watch on: HBO Max
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video
Kusama – Infinity
Watch on: Apple TV, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video
Hasan Minaj: Homecoming King
Watch on: Netflix
Naomi Osaka
Watch on: Netflix
Movies
RRR
Watch on: Netflix
The Half of It
Watch on: Netflix
Minari
Watch on: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Youtube, Google Play
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Watch on: Hulu, Apple TV, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video
Turning Red
Watch on: Disney+
The Namesake
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV
Crazy Rich Asians
Watch on: HBO Max, Google Play, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video
Saving Face
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video
Tigertail
Watch on: Netflix
Moana
Watch on: Disney+
The Farewell
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu
Always Be My Maybe
Watch on: Netflix
TV shows
Beef
Watch on: Netflix
Kim’s Convenience
Watch on: Netflix
Squid Game
Watch on: Netflix
