52 Books, Documentaries & Movies to Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

| May 1, 2023 | 7 min read
52 books, movies, and tv shows to celebrate Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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 book cover  My Life: Growing Up Asian in America

Edited by CAPE

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Crying in H Mart book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthCrying in H Mart: A Memoir

by Michelle Zaumer

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Dear Girls book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthDear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life

by Ali Wong

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The Night Parade book coverThe Night Parade: A Speculative Memoir

by Jami Nakamura Lin

Pre-order the book

 

 

 

Minor Feelings book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthMinor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning

by Cathy Park Hong

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Heart of Fire book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthHeart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story

by Mazie K. Hirono

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Know My Name book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthKnow My Name

by Chanel Miller

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Speak Okinawa book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthSpeak, Okinawa: A Memoir

by Elizabeth Miki Brina

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What We Carry book coverWhat We Carry: A Memoir

by Maya Shanbhag Lang

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Fairest book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthFairest

by Meredith Talusan

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Fiction

The Three-Body Problem book coverThe Three-Body Problem

by Cixin Liu

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Front Desk book coverFront Desk

by Kelly Yang

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Exhalation book coverExhalation

by Ted Chiang

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The Joy Luck Club book coverThe Joy Luck Club

by Amy Tan

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The Bonesetter's Daughter book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthThe Bonesetter’s Daughter

by Amy Tan

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When You Trap a Tiger book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthWhen You Trap a Tiger

by Tae Keller

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The Silence That Binds Us book coverThe Silence that Binds Us

by Joanna Ho

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How Much of These Hills is Gold book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthHow Much of These Hills is Gold

by C Pam Zhang

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Interpreter of Maladies book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthInterpreter of Maladies

by Jhumpa Lahiri

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The Paper Menagerie book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthThe Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

by Ken Liu

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House of Many Gods book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthHouse of Many Gods

by Kiana Davenport

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Interior Chinatown book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthInterior Chinatown

by Charles Yu

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Snow Falling on Cedars book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthSnow Falling on Cedars

by David Guterson

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The Things We Lost to Water book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthThings We Lost to the Water

by Eric Nguyen

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The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane book coverThe Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

by Lisa See

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Graphic novels

They Called Us Enemy graphic novel coverThey Called Us Enemy

by George Takei

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The Best We Could Do graphic novel cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthThe Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir

by Thi Bui

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Good Talk graphic novel cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthGood Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

by Mira Jacob

Get the graphic novel

 

 

 

 

Poetry & essays

Go Home! book coverGo Home!

Edited by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

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Rose book coverRose

By Li-Young Lee

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Trick Mirror book cover for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthTrick Mirror

by Jia Tolentino

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Documentaries & comedy specials

OMOIYARI documentary posterOMOIYARI: A Song Film by Kishi Bashi

Find Screenings

 

 

 

 

Take Out with Lisa Ling tv show poster for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthTake Out with Lisa Ling

Watch on: HBO  Max

 

 

 

 

Dragon documatary poster for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthDragon: The Bruce Lee Story

Watch on: Amazon Prime Video

 

 

 

 

Kusama Infinity documentary posterKusama – Infinity

Watch on: Apple TV, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video

 

 

 

Hasan Minhaj comedy special posterHasan Minaj: Homecoming King

Watch on: Netflix

 

 

 

Naomi Osaka documentary poster for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthNaomi Osaka

Watch on: Netflix

 

 

 

 

 

Movies

RRR movie posterRRR

Watch on: Netflix

 

 

 

 

The Half of It movie posterThe Half of It

Watch on: Netflix

 

 

 

 

Minari movie posterMinari

Watch on: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Youtube, Google Play

 

 

 

Everything Everywhere All At Once movie poster for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthEverything Everywhere All at Once

Watch on: Hulu, Apple TV, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video

 

 

 

 

Turning Red movie poster for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthTurning Red

Watch on: Disney+

 

 

 

 

The Namesake movie posterThe Namesake

Watch on: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

 

 

 

 

Crazy Rich Asians movie poster for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage MonthCrazy Rich Asians

Watch on: HBO Max, Google Play, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video

 

 

 

 

 

Saving Face movie posterSaving Face

Watch on: Amazon Prime Video

 

 

 

 

Tigertail movie posterTigertail

Watch on: Netflix

 

 

 

 

Moana movie posterMoana

Watch on: Disney+

 

 

 

 

The Farewell movie posterThe Farewell

Watch on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

 

 

 

 

Always Be My Maybe movie posterAlways Be My Maybe

Watch on: Netflix

 

 

 

 

 

 

TV shows

Beef tv show posterBeef

Watch on: Netflix

 

 

 

Kim's Convenience tv show posterKim’s Convenience

Watch on: Netflix

 

 

 

Squid Game tv show posterSquid Game

Watch on: Netflix

 

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