About

Welcome to Literary CelebrAsian (a.k.a Lit CelebrAsian) formerly known as Lit InvAsian. A group of bookworms and #DiverseBookBloggers dedicated to uplifting Asian voices in literature. Hosts of #AsianLitChat and #AsianLitBingo.

We aim to highlight the diversity of Asian voices through features and events that are open to all readers to join in. Our events include: Lit CelebrAsian Book Club, Asian Lit Chat and Asian Lit Bingo. In addition to events, we have a resources page for recent book releases and fun book lists!

Beyond Asian representation, on social media, we aim to boost the many different marginalized voices, platforms and communities with similar goals towards equality in publishing.

Feel free to drop us a line here for any questions, features or requests!

Where else can you find Lit CelebrAsian?

Lit CelebrAsian FAQ

Introducing the Team

Check out the Meet the Team page!

Want to learn more about Lit CelebrAsian Events?

Drop by Introducing Lit CelebrAsian to learn more about our events: Lit CelebrAsian Book Club, Asian Lit Chat and Asian Lit Bingo.

Why focus on uplifting Asian voices?

In publishing, there are power dynamics in play that marginalize Asian authors, especially those who write Asian characters and draw from their heritage for their writing. In the context of publishing in countries where white people are the majority/dominant group, diaspora Asians in those countries have a hard time breaking into publishing. In a more global context, Asian writers in Asia have a hard to reaching a wider audience beyond regional publishing due to their perceived foreignness, plus a general lack of infrastructure for translations for those that don’t write in English (and many do write in English).

There are also double standards in the industry that facilitate publication for white authors writing Asian[-inspired] characters/settings/stories while Asian writers who write from a place of a cultural insider are told their stories are “too Asian” or “not Asian enough.” Even though we are supportive of well researched Asian representation in stories by non-Asian writers, the focus of Lit CelebrAsian is to uplift Asian voices due to these systemic challenges encountered in the industry.

In this context, the pressure on marginalized writers to draw upon their cultural heritage can be a heavy responsibility to carry too. For this reason, we support well researched own voices and non-own voices stories by Asian authors. Own voices is a useful shorthand term to find great stories but note that not every marginalized writer will describe their work in these terms.

Behind The Name

We are excited to announce our new name: Literary CelebrAsian (a.k.a Lit CelebrAsian) formerly known as Lit InvAsian. Upon reflection, our team wanted a new name to clearly reflect our goals towards equality, celebration and inclusion. We’re still fond of puns.

Our former ‘Lit InvAsian’ name was a playful way to address false Yellow Peril Invasion perceptions in the Western context. Though we recently reflected upon our former name in relation to concerns around potential inter-Asian imperialistic connotations in the wider Asian historical context and decided that a new name, which celebrates Asian voices was needed to clearly convey our goals towards equality. We hope that you’ll join us in uplifting Asian voices in literature.