Contact:
Candice Wing-yee Mack
LitAwards@apalaweb.org
Release Date:
January 27, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2025 Asian Pacific American Awards for Literature Winners
PHOENIX – The Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA), announced the 2025 winners of its Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature today during the ALA’s LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience, held Jan. 24-27 in Phoenix.
The Asian Pacific American Awards for Literature celebrate Asian Pacific American culture and heritage. Winner and Honor books were selected from titles created by and about Asian Pacific Americans published between September 2023 through August 2024. The awards are based on literary and artistic merit in highlighting the Asian Pacific American experience in the following categories: Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction, Young Adult Literature, Children’s Literature, and Picture Book.
The 2025 Asian Pacific American Awards for Literature are:
Adult Fiction Winner: Same Bed Different Dreams, written by Ed Park, and published by Random House, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC, New York. 9780812998979.
A hypnotic blend of genres and timelines, this novel offers an immersive dive into Korea’s turbulent history, contemporary American culture, and our tech-obsessed lives. Park envisions a reality in which the Korean Provisional Government still exists and links an unfinished KPG manuscript in disparate hands. His masterful weaving of divergent lives and alternate histories culminates in a surreal conclusion that will astonish readers. This metafiction defies conventions and captures our zeitgeist splendidly.
Adult Fiction Honor: Green Frog: Stories, written by Gina Chung, and published by Vintage, an imprint of Penguin Random House. 9780593469361.
Adult Non-Fiction Winner: Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve, written by Drew Afualo, and published by AUWA Books, an imprint of MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 9780374614058.
Drew Afualo’s Loud seamlessly weaves stories of her life experiences and personal philosophies through a series of bold vignettes and anecdotes. Imbued with humor and feminist insights, her memoir brings together her proud identity as a Samoan woman, and the interplay between it and her family, career, and relationships.
Adult Non-Fiction Honor: Tip of the Spear: Land, Labor, and US Settler Militarism in Guåhan, 1944–1962, written by Alfred Perado Flores, and published by Cornell University Press. 9781501771347.
Adult Non-Fiction Honor: Advocate: A Graphic Memoir of Family, Community, and the Fight for Environmental Justice, written by Eddie Ahn, and published by Ten Speed Graphic, an imprint of Ten Speed Press. 9781984862495.
Young Adult Winner: Everything We Never Had, written by Randy Ribay, and published by Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC. 9780593461419
Grounded in a century of historical events and climates in the Philippines and the United States, this intergenerational story is told from the perspectives of four generations of Filipino American teenage boys as they navigate their identities, dreams, and familial relationships. Through strong characterization and historical placement, Ribay tackles generational trauma, mental health, and toxic masculinity in families as well as interrogates structural issues of immigration, racism, and class to create a deeply powerful and emotional narrative of family and hope.
Young Adult Honor: Lunar New Year Love Story, by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham and published by First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership. 9781250908261.
Young Adult Honor: Dragonfruit, written by Makiia Lucier, and published by Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. 9780358272106.
Children’s Winner: Continental Drifter, written by Kathy MacLeod, published by First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership. 9781250813749.
With a Thai mother and American father, Kathy belongs to two different worlds. Kathy and her family live in Bangkok, Thailand and are counting down the days until their summer vacation in her father’s home town in Maine. Kathy loves the idyllic beauty of Maine but she doesn’t look like the other kids at summer camp and has a hard time blending in. She misses parts of her life in Thailand. Kathy yearns to find a place to truly belong and isn’t sure if that’s in Thailand, Maine or simply anywhere. This heartfelt story tells the tale of a young girl searching for connections, identity and belonging while drifting and trying to find a home. Kathy’s struggles resonate with many of us caught between two worlds.
Children’s Honor: Mabuhay!, written and illustrated by Zachary Sterling, and published by Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. 9781338738605.
Children’s Honor: Clairboyance, written by Kristiana Kahakauwila, and published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. 9780063045354.
Picture Book Winner: Aloha Everything, written by Kaylin Melia George, illustrated by Mae Waite, and published by Red Comet Press. 9781636551128.
Through the medium of hula, a young girl learns the true meaning of aloha. Verses richly interspersed with the Hawaiian language and lush, eye-catching illustrations honor the beauty and vitality of the Hawaiian people, history, ecology, and folklore.
Picture Book Honor: The Rock in My Throat, written by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Jiemei Lin and published by Carolrhoda Books, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. 9781728445687.
Each title will be presented and given the award seal during the annual APALA Literature Award Ceremony taking place during the 2025 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadephia, PA.
For a complete list of Asian Pacific American Awards for Literature, including awardees from previous years, please visit http://www.apalaweb.org/awards/literature-awards/.
The 2024 Asian Pacific American Awards for Literature committee members include:
Award Committee: Co-Chair Jamie Kurumaji, Fresno County Public Library, CA; Co-Chair Candice Wing-yee Mack, Los Angeles Public Library; Co-Chair Zoë McLaughlin, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
Adult Fiction Award Jury: Chair Elizabeth Joseph, New York Public Library; Karen Fernandez, Highline College Library, Seattle, WA; Jeanette Ho, Texas A&M University Libraries, College Station, TX; Tom Poehnelt, Schenectady County Public Library, Schenectady, NY; Monica Shin, Boston Public Library, MA; Phoebe Yip, Potsdam Public Library, Potsdam, NY; Michelle Young, Waimea Public Library, Waimea, HI.
Children’s Literature Award Jury: Chair Jane Martinez Khaytin, Vernon Area Public Library, Lincolnshire, IL; Sine Hwang Jensen, UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Library, Berkeley, CA; Isariya Locke, Fresno County Public Library, Fresno, CA; Miyo Sandlin, The Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY; Neha Thakkar, Illinois State Board of Education, Chicago, IL
Picture Book Award Jury: Co-Chair Charlene Hsu Gross, DeKalb County Public Library, Ellenwood, GA; Christine Chai Haw, Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA; Becky Leathersich, SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY; Yun Ji (Angie) So, William M. Rains Library, Loyola Law School, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA; Xuemin Zhong, LA County Library, Los Angeles, CA
APALA’s Literature Award Committee is currently accepting submissions published between September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025 for consideration for the 2026 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. More information may be found by contacting LitAwards@apalaweb.org and on APALA’s Literature Award Guidelines & Nomination page (https://www.apalaweb.org/awards/literature-awards/literature-award-guidelines/).
The Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) was founded in 1980 by librarians of diverse Asian Pacific ancestries committed to working together toward a common goal: to create an organization that would address the needs of Asian Pacific American librarians and those who serve Asian Pacific American communities.
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