Nonfiction Archives - Page 3 of 56

We’re Better Than This: Young Readers’ Edition: My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy by Elijah Cummings and Hilary Beard [in School Library Journal]

07 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

The adults got (mostly) Laurence Fishburne, but Adam Lazarre-White is distinctly the softer, better choice for younger listeners to get to know the late congressman in his own words. Elijah Cummings was born to South Carolina sharecroppers who moved to Baltimore “looking for a better life.”...

The Pass by Espé, translated by J.T. Mahany [in Booklist]

06 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, French, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

French comics creator Espé made his spectacular translated debut with The Parakeet (2021), inspired by his childhood with a mother battling mental illness. He continues his autobiographical exploration via his stand-in, Bastien, who’s now the parent of two. Louis’ birth should have been joyous for Camille and...

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson [in School Library Journal]

04 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Nonfiction, Repost

Nikole Hannah-Jones’s seminal The 1619 Project becomes a 24-minute lyrical gift for youngest readers, rendered with Newbery Honoree Renée Watson. Hannah-Jones voices the affecting verses: gentle through the horror, solemn to encourage empowerment, inviting to share the joy. A Black girl’s school assignment to “trace your...

The Carnegie Medal Interview: Hanif Abdurraqib [in Booklist]

23 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Black/African American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Terry Hong, Booklist Contributing Reviewer and chair of the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence selection committee, had questions for Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance, winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Here is their exchange: A Little Devil...

Body Language: Writers on Identity, Physicality, and Making Space for Ourselves edited by Nicole Chung and Matt Ortile [in Booklist]

16 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Chinese American, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese American, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonfiction, Repost, Taiwanese American, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Editors Nicole Chung (All You Can Ever Know, 2018) and Matt Ortile (The Groom Will Keep His Name, 2020) present 30 essays that reveal how diverse bodies “move within (and against) expectations of race, gender, health, and ability.” Gabrielle Bellot, a Black trans woman,...

Hummingbird Heart by Travis Dandro [in Booklist]

27 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Travis Dandro made his graphic title debut with award-winning King of King Court (2019), about his complicated 1980s youth. In this follow-up, he’s a Camaro-driving teenager in 1991 in his final year at home before art school. His heroin-addicted birth father has committed suicide and his...

The Third Person by Emma Grove [in Shelf Awareness]

26 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Canadian, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Debut author Emma Grove's luminous graphic memoir opens with a declaration: "None of the following incidents are made up or invented ...

Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, illustrated by Daniel Sousa [in Shelf Awareness]

21 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Bilingual, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Hawaiian, Nonfiction, Pacific Islander, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Kapaemahu began as an animated short film that garnered international recognition. The award-winning production team of Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, and Joe Wilson now sets their script onto the page, resulting in a spectacular picture book featuring stills from animation director Daniel Sousa's moving images....

You’ve Changed: Fake Accents, Feminism, and Other Comedies from Myanmar by Pyae Moe Thet War [in Booklist]

18 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Memoir, Myanmarese (Burmese), Myanmarese (Burmese) American, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW She has two names, Moe Thet War and Pyae Pyae (pronounced “puh-yay, puh-yay”). Both were carefully chosen by her parents. As a Myanmar-born, U.S.- and British-educated, Myanmar-returned resident with a perfect American accent, Pyae Pyae unabashedly explores her “liminality ...

Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway by Emma Fick [in Booklist]

25 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

Artist Emma Fick’s illustrated travelogue combines intricate art and intimate observations – vibrantly colored and distinctly hand-lettered – of a Beijing-to-Moscow expedition on the Trans-Siberian Railway. In May 2015, while in Finland with her then-boyfriend-now-husband, the pair found a used book, Trans-Siberian Handbook, that had...

People Change by Vivek Shraya [in Booklist]

03 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Indian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, South Asian American

Multi-disciplinary artist and writer Vivek Shraya (The Subtweet, 2020) continues her thoughtful, deliberate self-narrations. Her latest essay collection centers change: “If I were to have anything resembling a higher purpose, I’d now say that it’s to evolve and to model evolution. To demonstrate the beauty...

Booklist Backlist: Tales of Dementia [in Booklist]

02 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, European, Fiction, French, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese American, Jewish, Lists, Malaysian American, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Palestinian American, Repost, Spanish, Translation

Gerda Saunders, who wrote Memory’s Last Breath (2017), an exquisitely bittersweet record chronicling her experiences with dementia, is one of my most beloved friends. We have books in common, in that we find great solace and escape in the (well-)written word. Inspired by our last visit...

Hakim’s Odyssey, Book 2: From Turkey to Greece by Fabien Toulmé, translated by Hannah Chute [in Booklist]

22 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, French, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Syrian, Translation, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW French graphic creator Fabien Toulmé opens the second of three volumes featuring Syrian refugee Hakim and his extended family with a clever recap of the first entry, facilitated by Toulmé’s young daughter, who asks to accompany him for the next interview: Toulmé lays out...

Iranian Love Stories by Jane Deuxard, illustrated by Deloupy, translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger [in Booklist]

14 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, French, Iranian, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

“I assure you, this country is a paradise for women,” a covered figure insists, her arms raised in a victorious V. But this is Iran, and her declaration doesn’t quite resonate with the local population. Two journalists – a couple publishing under the collective pseudonym...

Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illustrated by Yas Imamura [in Shelf Awareness]

24 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Japanese American, Nonfiction, Repost

"This is a true story. Mostly," Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Squad) explains in her author's note in Love in the Library, both a revealing exposé of unjust history and an exceptional tribute to love. Tokuda-Hall's maternal grandparents are Tama, a librarian, and George, the library's most constant patron....

Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel [in Shelf Awareness]

15 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

"Objects just seem to collect me, of their own volition," insists Haruki Murakami (First Person Singular): LPs, books, magazine clippings, pencil stubs, and, of course, T-shirts. Murakami T might detour from his global bestsellers, but it's a delightful glimpse into iconic Murakami through his casual...

Leonard Cohen: On a Wire by Philippe Girard, translated by Helge Dascher and Karen Houle [in Shelf Awareness]

14 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Biography, Canadian, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Jewish, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

Award-winning Canadian cartoonist Philippe Girard (Obituary Man) admirably condenses seven decades into a concise 120 pages in Leonard Cohen: On a Wire. It's a valuable introduction to the tumultuous life of the iconic singer/songwriter/poet perhaps best remembered for his classic "Hallelujah," eventually covered by some...

Seeing Ghosts by Kat Chow [in Booklist]

10 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Making her dual print and audio debut, journalist Kat Chow relies on words to resurrect her late mother – and lost family, by extension – who died of cancer in 2004. Not yet 50, her mother seemed to fulfill the superstition that the women in...

Passport by Sophia Glock [in Shelf Awareness]

09 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Few titles need official CIA permission to be published, but Sophia Glock's perceptive graphic novel memoir, Passport, had to go through the "daunting and complicated task" of obtaining the CIA's Publication Review Board approval. Glock's parents were "intelligence officers," an admission they disclosed when they...

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story created by Nikole Hannah-Jones [in Booklist]

02 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW In 2019, Pulitzer Prize–winning, MacArthur “Genius” Nikole Hannah-Jones “made a simple pitch” for a special issue of The New York Times Magazine to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the August 1619 arrival of the White Lion, the ship which carried the first captive Africans...

BookDragon Nonfiction