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the book cover for The Boat featuring a white wave against a black background

The Boat’s Interrogation of “Ethnic Literature”

Questions about “ethnic literature,” its place, and its limits permeate Nam Le’s 2008 short story collection. As he interrogates the term as a sweeping generalization for many kinds of writing, he also explores the conflict around what it means to be Vietnamese and a writer but not necessarily a Vietnamese writer.

side by side series of the cover of minor Feelings

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning’s Exploration of Solidarity

Though published in 2020 before the advent of the pandemic and the racial unrest that marked the year, Cathy Park Hong’s collection of essays explores the complexities of Asian American identity in ways that speak to the conversations around racial identity and solidarity that continue into 2021.