Reddi

WBUR fellow Lauren Williams recommends three books in honor of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

One of my favorites in the collection is “Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker,” where items like nail buffers and files, wool socks, and “chemo-glam” cotton headscarves land like revelations. It’s an inventive, heartfelt read that illustrates the flattening of Asian American cultures in our country. the erasure of the history of the ‘Others’ who were also there…” says Reddi. This erasure, especially that of Asian Americans, is palpable in our country. We think of pioneers heading to the last frontier, the gold rush and the shimmering coast. Below, I’ve got recommendations for poetry from Ocean Vuong, Reddi’s debut novel, and autofiction by Charles Yu. Plus, an investigation into what is owed to Hawaii, a guest essay about the migrant experience, and deep dive into some contemporary Asian American art. My professor gave me riches of reading material, where I came across a 1930s newspaper article about Black and Japanese American solidarity in Mississippi County, Arkansas. The history was astonishing to me, and it gave my project shape.