14 Queer Asian Books You Need To Read for Pride Month

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Want to relive the feeling of falling in love for the first time? This immersive drama takes you into the world of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1950s. 

Travel with seventeen-year-old Lily Hu as she faces impending deportation, visits a covert lesbian bar, and finally starts to feel at home in her own skin. Get ready to grip the pages in anticipation as you cheer for Lily’s love story to triumph. 

Check out the reviews and get yourself a copy!

Bestiary by K-Ming Chang

K-Ming Chang's poetic novel tells the tale of three generations of Taiwanese American women. Chang weaves various Taiwanese, Chinese, and Fujianse folktales into the story of a woman translating her grandmother’s letters.

Ming herself has attempted translation. In an article for Electric Literature, Ming reveals the inevitable gaps and misunderstandings between her grandmother’s original letters and her translation. 

Leaning into this idea, Chang worked these misunderstandings as a hybrid language between her and her grandmother. The product is Bestiary. Check out the novel here. 

Crystal Boys by Pai Hsien-Yung

This is considered the first gay novel to be written in Chinese. It features a rag-tag group of boys trying to build an accepting family within themselves. 

Crystal Boys is a collection of short stories that follow its characters' paths to self-acceptance. The book gives an honest and authentic look into the world of 1970s Taiwan and what gay men had to do to survive. 

You too will sigh and hope these boys all find happiness. Check out the reviews and get yourself a copy! 

Gentlemen Prefer Asians: Tales of Gay Indonesians and Green Card Marriages by Yuska Lutfi Tuanakotta

In these witty personal essays, an Indonesian author delves into his adjustment to America. He explores the flirtatious lifestyle of a gay man living it up in San Francisco while dealing with his past life in Indonesia. 

Check out the reviews and get yourself a copy!

Love Bi the Way by Bhaavana Arora

I haven’t seen much representations of bisexual characters in Asian American books. Therefore I was super excited to find this gem. 

It centers around two bi-Indian women trying to juggle their ambitious careers, the string of attractive men at their door, and the care of their golden retriever, Tiger. 

Love Bi the Way takes love, fun, and friendship to a whole new level. Check it out here!

Zara Hossain is Here by Sabina Khan

This book deals with the high stakes and drama of immigrating from Pakistan to the U.S. Not only that, it also deals with the trials and tribulations of the casual racism immigrant youth deal with on top of hormonal high school drama. 

Zara Hossain is Here takes a look at what it means to be a queer Muslim immigrant that continues to have hope and faith in the face of hate. Check it out here!

Fairest: A Memoir by Meredith Talusan

This novel chronicles the coming-of-age transgender Filipino woman as she overcomes struggles with albinism, immigration, and the Harvard school system. More than that, she endures her discovery of self-love. 

Get yourself a copy!