Skip To Content
  • asianpacificamerican badge

8 Books By South Asian Authors And Why You Should Read Them

Add these to your reading list!

Growing up, it was rare to read a book with characters that looked like me. Parvati and Padma Patil from Harry Potter were the extent of Desi representation, and their characters were two-dimensional and stereotypical.

Padma and Parvati Patil meet Harry Potter and Ron Weasley at the Yule Ball

Luckily, a lot has changed since then.

1. The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

The front cover of The Henna Artist features someone with a scarf on their head walking through a hallway

2. American Betiya by Anuradha D. Rajurkar

The book cover for American Betiya portrays a teenager lying in a field of flowers

3. Internment by Samira Ahmed

The book cover of Internment features the main character wearing a hat that says "Resist"

4. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

The cover of The White Tiger features a drawing of a car

5. A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena

The book cover features the main character Zarin wearing a head scarf and sunglasses

6. Family Life: A Novel by Akhil Sharma

The cover features the book's title reflected in a pool

7. Well-Behaved Indian Women by Saumya Dave

The book cover features the silhouettes of three women in front of the New York City skyline

8. A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

The book cover features fireworks in a night sky above some homes in a neighborhood

Check out how BuzzFeed is celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! And follow @buzzfeedapop on Instagram!

A drawing of four Asian Americans sharing their voices in front of a tropical flower backdrop