Consider the fact that, as recently as this May, Leonard Chang wrote about a novel of his that was rejected by big-house publishers for not being “Asian enough.” As one editor told him, critiquing his manuscript, “You have to think about ways to make these characters more ‘ethnic,’ more different…in the scene when looks into the mirror, you don’t show how she sees her slanted eyes, or how she thinks of her Asianness.”Īs it so happens, I’m Asian I’m publishing my debut novel this summer, and my characters, much like me, don’t spend any time contemplating their slanted eyes. Look, for instance, at the New York Times’s weekly “By the Book” section, in which, to a shameless extent, prominent men continue to suggest we just read still more men’s books. This year’s National Book Award ten-book fiction longlist featured six titles written by women of color three out of five 2017 New York Public Library Young Lions finalists were women of color and so on.īut there’s such a long way to go. It’s the first time the fiction prize has been conferred twice upon any black person or woman-thereby formally, prize-wise, placing Ward in the company of William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, and Philip Roth. I’ve heard it argued that it’s been a banner year for books by women of color already: there’s Jesmyn Ward’s 2017 National Book Award, for one. Toward this end, I sifted through publishers’ catalogs for forthcoming books, asked friends for thoughts, and solicited help on social media. So, I’m doing it again, with the wholehearted hope that a 2018 list might, here and there, help make the literary landscape less parochial, more inclusive.

To my great delight, that list ended up being one of Electric Lit’s top five most widely shared pieces this year. Once I’d collected a few 2017 titles, I thought I’d tell others about what I’d discovered.

I’d been looking for upcoming books by women of color - to review, as well as to read - and I had such trouble finding them that it felt like hunting for unicorns. I first wrote a list like this in February of 2017. Sign up for our newsletter to get submission announcements and stay on top of our best work.

Best books to read 2017