from Hope Matters
Lee Maracle was a Stó:lō writer, cultural critic, and activist. She has published many novels, poems, an autobiography, and several books of creative nonfiction, which reflect on many of the complex and often controversial topics discussed in the talks she has delivered nationally and internationally. Throughout her career, she has been honoured with several awards and has been actively involved with numerous universities across Canada.
Sherman Alexie is a Spokane-Coeur d’Alene writer, poet, and filmmaker whose work explores contemporary Native American identity, culture, and survival with sharp humor and unflinching honesty. Raised on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington, he overcame early health challenges and found his voice through literature. Alexie is acclaimed for The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. His poem How to Write the Great American Indian Novel satirizes stereotypes of Indigenous peoples in literature, exposing how popular culture distorts identity while asserting Indigenous presence through irony and truth.
Poet, photographer, scholar, and fiction writer Kimberly Blaeser is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation and grew up on the reservation in northwestern Minnesota. Blaeser worked as a journalist before earning her PhD from the University of Notre Dame. She is currently a professor emerita at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, an MFA faculty member at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and founding director of In-Na-Po (Indigenous Nations Poets).
John Agard is a Guyanese-born poet, playwright, and children’s author known for his vibrant use of Caribbean rhythms, humor, and sharp social insight. Born in 1949, he moved to Britain in 1977, where his work has since become central to contemporary poetry. Agard often explores themes of identity, culture, and history, blending oral tradition with modern commentary. His poem “Old World New World” reflects on the encounters between Europe and the Americas, highlighting colonization’s cultural collisions and consequences. Through vivid imagery and contrasting perspectives, Agard questions historical narratives while celebrating diversity, giving readers both playful wit and profound critique.
A mix of a story about motherhood and migration, Dandelion follows Lily as she navigates being a new mother by trying to find out what happened to her own mother, who abandoned her family when she was a young girl from small town British Columbia in the 1980's.
Jamie Chai Yun Liew hosts the Migration Conversations podcast and has also written a non-fiction book, Ghost Citizens. Dandelion won the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writer Award in 2022. It appeared on the long list of Canada Reads in 2023 and again in the finals in 2025.
An Echo in the City follows two seventeen-year-olds, Phoenix a high school student intent on escaping Hong Kong to go to America for university and Kai, an aspiring police officer. The two of them find themselves in love, but on opposite sides of the 2019 Hong Kong protests as the city descends further and further into political turmoil.
K.X. Song is a writer with connections to both Hong Kong and Shanghai. An Echo in the City is her debut young adult novel and won the Freeman Book Award and was listed as a Best Book in 2023 by multiple institutions She is also the author of The Night Ends with Fire, her debut fantasy novel.
Peter Lee's Notes from the Field follows Peter Lee and his dream of being a paleontologist, a scientist who digs up dinosaur bones. However, his summer is filled with disasters, from asthma attacks to his grandmother, Hammy, falling sick. Using his trusty notebook and his observation skills, Peter Lee will need to figure his way out of this by himself.
Angela Ahn was born in Seoul, but immigrated to Canada when she was very young. She now lives in Vancouver. She is a former high school teacher who taught English and Social Studies and she has also earned a Master's Degree from UBC's School of Library and Information Sciences. Other books written by Angela Ahn include Krista Kim Bap and Julia On the Go!
Ruby Lu Brave and True tells the story of eight-year-old Ruby Lu who loves Magic and, begrudgingly, her little brother. However, there are some things she is not as fond about, such as having to go to Chinese school on Saturdays. This novel is the first in a series of books about Ruby Lu's adventures growing up.
Lenore Look is an award winning author who has also written the popular Alvin Ho series. She graduated from Princeton University and has previously worked as a journalist, contributing to the L.A. Times. She has always loved writing and, as a child, created and distributed her own picture books.
Skim, a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by her cousin Jillian Tamaki, follows a goth girl at a private school who falls for her English teacher while grappling with a classmate’s tragic loss. As she faces confusion and isolation, she finds support in her best friend and an unexpected ally.
Morning Sun in Wuhan follows 13-year-old Mei, a girl who hates piano, loves cooking and computer games, and is living in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. When her friend's grandmother falls ill, Mei must navigate the fear and uncertainty of living in a locked-down city as the coronavirus spreads in order to make a difference to those she cares about.
Ying Chang Compestine is originally from Wuhan, China. She has a Master's degree in sociology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and has written twenty-seven books including Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party, based on her experiences during the Cultural Revolution. Morning Sun in Wuhan was a New York Public Library Best Book of the Year, an NCSS 2023 Notable Social Studies Trade Book, and a Gold Standard Selection from the Junior Library Guild.
May Li, a Chinese-American seventh grader, has just won an award for being the "Top Female Player" in the state championship. However, after being told that "everyone knows girls aren't as good at chess as guys", she is determined to win her team's internal chess tournament to become captain before they take on nationals. Fans of chess and of fighting sexism are sure to enjoy Zhao's latest novel!
Kyla Zhao is a writer from Singapore who now works in Silicon Valley. In 2021, she graduated from Stanford University and in 2023, she was listed in Forbes' Asia's 30 under 30 list. She has written for the Singaporean editions of Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and Talent and is also the author of The Fraud Squad, described as Crazy Rich Asians meets Gossip Girl
Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani American author, essayist and interfaith activist. Meet Yasmin! follows Yasmin Ahmad, a spirited second-grader who's always on the lookout for those "aha" moments to help her solve life's little problems. Taking inspiration from her surroundings and her big imagination, she boldly faces any situation, assuming her imagination doesn't get too big, of course! A creative thinker and curious explorer, Yasmin and her multi-generational Pakistani American family will delight and inspire readers.
Xiran Jay Zhou immigrated to British Columbia from a small town in China in their fifth grade year. After graduating from Simon-Fraser University with a degree in Biochemical disease research, they signed a multi-book contract with Penguin Teen Canada which they promptly released their debut novel: Iron Widow. Their historical inspired , science fiction story about China's first empress was a huge hit on social media, quickly becoming a New York Times bestseller as well as winning the 2021 BSFA award for young readers. Alongside the heavy feminist themes in the story, Xiran Jay Zhou tackles the little to none Bisexual and Polyamorous representation in media.
I Hope This Doesn't Find You tells the story of Sadie Wen who is a high-achieving, perfect student at her school. Of course, this is because no one knows about the email drafts she writes whenever she has frustrations against her teachers or her classmates, but mostly against her Julius Gong, her co-captain at school. Naturally, those email drafts get sent out and Sadie now has to navigate the fallout of her feelings.
Ann Liang is an Australian-Chinese writer who attended the University of Melbourne. I Hope This Doesn't Find You was a New York Times bestseller and was a finalist for a Queensland Literary Awards Young Adult Book Award. Liang will serve as the executive producer of the upcoming TV adaption of her book If You Could See The Sun.
Prose - the excerpt about the fortune told to the Magistrate Tiger about his future daughter in law. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a fantasy-adventure children's novel inspired by Chinese folklore. It was written and illustrated by Grace Lin and published in 2009. The novel received a 2010 Newbery Honor and the 2010 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature.
THE TRUTH ABOUT DRAGONS is a stunning picture book by Julie Leung, illustrated by Hanna Cha, which celebrates a biracial boy as he discovers the folklore of fearsome Western dragons and benevolent Eastern dragons, and learns that both sets of cultures and stories shape the adventure of his life.
Born to immigrant parents from China, Amy Tan grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. When she returned home from her first trip to China, she learned that she had received several offers based on her submission of three short stories, which turned into The Joy Luck Club. Four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined.
Golden Girl tells the story of 7th grader Aafiyah who has an unusual problem of "borrowing" pretty things without permission. However, when her father is falsely accused of a crime, she devises a plan to help him and reunite her family. That might mean giving up her bad habit though. This book received a Bank Streets Best Children's Book of the Year Award in 2023.
Reem Faruqi is an ALA notable author who also wrote Unsettled and Lailah's Lunchbox. She is also a seasonal photographer and a stay-at-home mom, though she also used to be a second grade teacher. Her website mentions that she loves to doodle, eats apples from the bottom up, and doesn't trust opaque shampoo.
The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun is an upcoming middle grade book that tells the story of Esme Sun, a girl who lives in the shadow of her three older sisters until she discovers that she is good at swimming after a winter growth spurt. As the school year begins, she must navigate friendships and competition as well as the expectations of her parents.
Wendy Wan-Long Shang has also written The Great Wall of Lucy Wu and The Secret Battle of Evelyn Pao. She attended the University of Virginia and actually received a Law Degree from there as well. She is the recipient of an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and wrote the first ever Chinese-American title character for the Girl of the Year series from the American Girl Company.
A Banquet for Cecilia Chiang tells the story of how Cecilia Chiang, escaped from war with her family to revolutionize Chinese food in the west where her family owned a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco.
This book was written by Julie Leung who is a Caldecott Award nominee and has also written the APALA award winning Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist. It was illustrated by Melissa Iwai, who has over 30 picture books to her credit, including a Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor-winning series.