Dear publishing industry — we need more books about Black people in Asia
The kinds of books set only in the continent and written by Black authors who currently live or have lived there, and the kind of stories and experiences that touch on topics with a twist. You all keep advertising that you’re looking for the next book from an author of an underrepresented background, well here is a reading space that needs to be explored with a lot of raw talent from Black authors with books set in Asia.
Out of the 30 books within this category that I’ve researched only two have been traditionally published — those being Asha Lemmie’s Fifty Words for Rain (Penguin Random House US, 2020) and Marvin D. Sterling’s Babylon East (Duke University Press, 2010). The rest are self-published and can be found on Amazon but are still not widely distributed around the world.
Black voices in Asia are needed within the book community and the publishing industry purely for readers who have never been to the continent but have a big interest to change that and want to read from another Black person’s perspective who has lived out there for years with extensive knowledge of the country they reside in, regardless of the social spaces and certain cultural aspects aren’t for us. Autobiographies like Black in China, fantasy books like Adrienne, or even children’s stories like Johnny & Joshua Coming to Korea come to mind that touch on things like this.
I’m very surprised none of you have published a bait YA romcom story of a fan meeting their favourite idol in Asia or clubbing abroad where they meet someone and get the opportunity of a lifetime. Give the teens something exciting in their hands at least, even if it has undertones of fanfiction-esque to it. Because if E.L James can turn a Twilight fanfiction into a bestseller like Fifty Shades of Grey, why can’t other Black writers and authors do the same with AO3/AFF fanfiction?
In fiction, I want to read a mixture of everything. Hot summer romances, retellings of local tales in the fantasy genre or new worlds clouded in mystery where characters can start an adventure in. And with little to no heavy subject matters because we’ve read enough of that already.
Non-fiction matters too. I want books from Black people who have travelled and lived in Asia with experiences and knowledge to give back that haven’t been told before in books before. From what it’s like to date, getting employed in different industries, starting businesses, navigating social spaces or just general advice.
I know it’s not the norm for a Black author to set their books in Asia but the readership that wants to learn more is at a high demand nowadays. And it is growing even more with anthologies like Black in Asia and Trailblasian that give a sneak peek of what other writers livelihoods within the continent are like from a wider perspective.
But me being me, I want more.
So much more that it can be a reading space for other Black people to find what kind of category of being Black in Asia is like in any country over there. Think about the stories from other generations living in Asia that go unnoticed because it’s only been written in their local language.
This is the time you reach out to the agents and publishers you know in Asia including the ones that you buy the rights to, (Rights departments, are you reading this?). Ask them if they know any Black authors or authors with mixed Black heritage that have a book out there? There are probably a lot of Afro-Asians out there like Tierra Creekmur’s son in Blaze Adventures in China who have similar books to publish but haven’t been discovered yet.
Also to The Bookseller, Publishers Weekly, The Publishing Post, That Publishing Blog and to any other book publishing magazine or website, I hope you are able to use your platforms to continue to open your audiences to read more books within this category and also encourage to write more books set in Asia by Black authors.
Now’s the chance to expand over there for your desired audience and the rest of the world to read what stories and experiences from Black authors are out there in Asia.
