In the Intersection: East Asian LGBT Lit

It’s like buses: you wait ages for one pride rec list and then two arrive at once! Today we’re covering East Asian LGBT lit, both that which is translated, and that which comes from diaspora authors. Once again, we’ve not read everything on this list (in fact, because we do want to prioritise translated lit in general, there’s a fair bit that’s not read), so it’s more a starter list for everyone.

As before, we’re using flags to mark a country of origin (where possible) and a separate emoji (🏹) to mark if the author is a diaspora author.

All of the series: Black, African & Caribbean lit, West Asian lit, South Asian lit, Southeast Asian lit, Latine lit, Indigenous lit, religion in lit, and neurodiversity & disability in lit.

Once again, some more links if you want to read more: translated literature from Taiwan and China, Japanese literature, Korean literature (also here – in Korean).

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (nonbinary lesbian mc, lesbian, bi & gay mcs) 🇨🇳 🏹
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (bi mcs, polyamory) 🇨🇳 🏹
Love and Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura (lesbian mc & lis) 🇯🇵 🏹
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki (lesbian mc) 🇯🇵 🏹
Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin (lesbian mc, gay characters) 🇹🇼

Yellow Rose by Nobuko Yoshiya (lesbian mc) 🇯🇵
Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee (nonbinary mc, bi li, bi side characters) 🇰🇷 🏹
My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata (memoir) 🇯🇵
To the Warm Horizon by Choi Jin-Young, trans. by Soje (sapphic mc) 🇰🇷
Night Flowers Shirking from the Light of the Sun by Li Xing (lesbian mcs, gay, trans & nonbinary side characters) 🇨🇳 🏹

Our Dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani, trans. by Jocelyne Allen (gay mc) 🇯🇵
Young Mongols ed. by Aubrey Menard (essays) 🇲🇳
Crystal Boys by Pai Hsien-Yung, trans. by Howard Goldblatt (gay mc) 🇨🇳
I’ll Be the One by Lyla Lee (bi mc & li) 🇰🇷 🏹
Beijing Comrades by Beijing Tongzhi, trans. by Scott E. Myers (gay mc) 🇨🇳

Bestiary by K-Ming Chang (lesbian mc & side characters) 🇹🇼 🏹
Burning Roses by S. L. Huang (sapphic trans mc) 🇨🇳 🏹
Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mò Xiāng Tóngxiù (gay mcs) 🇨🇳
Female General, Eldest Princess by Please Don’t Laugh (lesbian mcs) 🇨🇳
Small Beauty by jia qing wilson-yang (trans mc) 🇨🇳 🏹

A World Between by Emily Hashimoto (sapphic mcs) 🇯🇵 🏹
Obie Is Man Enough by Schuyler Bailar (trans mc) 🇰🇷 🏹
In the Face of Death We Are Equal by Mu Cao, trans. by Scott E Myers (gay mcs) 🇨🇳
Angelwings trans. by Fran Martin (lgbt cast) 🇹🇼
Soft Science by Franny Choi (poetry) 🇰🇷 🏹

Comrade Loves of the Samurai by Saikaku Ihara, trans. by E. Powys Mathers (achillean mcs) 🇯🇵
Notes of a Desolate Man by Chu Tienwen, trans. by Howard Goldblatt (gay mc) 🇹🇼
Love in the Big City by Park Sang Young, trans. by Anton Hur (gay mc) 🇰🇷
A Greater Music by Bae Suah, trans. by Deborah Smith (sapphic mc) 🇰🇷
Queer Taiwanese Literature: A Reader ed. by Howard Chiang (lgbt cast) 🇹🇼