"Each author’s work is a uniquely powerful touchstone for the immigrant experience in America"
Penguin books will publish four Asian American books under their Penguin Classics line
Publishers Weekly reports that Penguin Classics will launch four novels by Asian American authors.
The four novels are:
The Hanging on Union Square by H.T. Tsiang
East Goes West by Younghill Kang
No-No Boy by John Okada
America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan
To celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the publication company will release the books on 21 May.
Tsiang immigrated to the US from China, Kang is an immigrant from North Korea and Pangasinan came from the Philippines.
Okada was born in Seattle but was sent to an internment camp during WWII. He is considered the first Japanese American novelist.
Asian American authors Alexander Chee and Elaine Castillo will introduce East Goes West and America Is In The Heart respectively.
In a press announcement, the publication said, “the authors of these classics have all endured comparisons to better-known white authors in order to describe their own genius; Younghill Kang has been compared to Whitman and Nabokov, Carlos Bulosan to Steinbeck. Yet each author’s work is a uniquely powerful touchstone for the immigrant experience in America.”
Executive editor of Penguin Classics John Siciliano said “it was important to us to have a diversity within Asian America, which is why we have books by Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Filipino writers represented.”
“Our eyes are open to opportunities to publish writers from South Asia and Central Asia.”
