Book Recs: Asian Sapphic Novels

A recommendation list that’s a bit longer than usually (40 books instead of 10), but I feel like that’s justified: Kate @ Your Tita Kate requested Asian sapphic books, and that’s just too vast a topic to cover it with ten novels. (Forty aren’t enough either, but I had to stop somewhere.)

Yes, I am sadly aware of the lack of North and Central Asian books on this list, but despite my best efforts, I simply could not think of any. The list does cover four other main regions of Asia, though, and it’s all fiction. I opted not to include poetry this time.

A lot of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)

Related: Southeast Asian LGBT Lit, South Asian LGBT Lit, West Asian LGBT Lit & East Asian LGBT Lit.

EAST ASIA

🌈 Bestiary by K-Ming Chang (Taiwanese & Taiwanese American cast, lesbian mc, sapphic characters, achillean side characters) tw child abuse, domestic abuse, amputation, gore
🌈 Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin, trans. Bonnie Huie (Taiwanese cast & setting, lesbian mc, lesbian side characters, gay side character, bi side characters) tw internalised homophobia, self harm, suicidal ideation, heroin addiction
🌈 If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So (British Chinese bi mc, British Chinese lesbian side character, British Indian sapphic side character, biracial Black sapphic side character, Vietnamese nonbinary bi side character, Chinese gay side character, gay & sapphic side characters) tw past toxic relationship, homophobia
🌈 Love & Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura (Japanese American lesbian mc, Japanese American lesbian li, Taiwanese American lesbian li, Black bi side character, Japanese American gay side character, Filipino American gay side character) tw homophobia, mention of parent’s death
A Greater Music by Bae Suah, trans. Deborah Smith (Korean sapphic mc) 

🌈 She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (Chinese & Mongolian cast, nonbinary lesbian mc, lesbian mc, gay mc, bi mc) tw violence
Yellow Rose by Nobuko Yoshiya (Japanese sapphic characters)
🌈 Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu (bi/pan Chinese American mc using a hearing-aid, nonbinary Chinese American li, side interracial sapphic couple)
Burning Roses by S. L. Huang (Chinese sapphic trans mc, Latina lesbian mc)
🌈 Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki & Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (half-East Asian lesbian mc, lesbian li, poc gay character, Black gay character, Black sapphic characters, lesbian character) tw homophobia, cheating, unwanted pregnancy, abortion

WEST ASIA

🌈 Disoriental by Négar Djavadi (Iranian cast, sapphic mc, Dutch lesbian li, gay side character) tw blood, gore, murder, mentions of homophobic violence
🌈 The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar (Syrian sapphic mc, Syrian trans li, Syrian sapphic li, Syrian American trans gay mc, Syrian American gay li, Black nonbinary character) tw islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, violence, death, blood
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust (Persian cast & setting, bi mc, sapphic li)
You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat (Palestinian American sapphic mc)
🌈 If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan (Iranian cast & setting, lesbian mc & li)

Rughum & Najda by Samar Habib (Persian cast & setting, lesbian mcs)
The Others by Siba al-Harez (Saudi Arabian cast & setting, sapphic mc, lesbian character)
The Wrong End of the Telescope by Rabih Alameddine (Lebanese-Syrian trans lesbian mc, Haitian lesbian li, trans side character, Lebanese gay side character, Palestinian gay side character) tw transphobia, torture, implied rape, violence
🌈 A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar (Egyptian-Palestinian bi mc)
🌈 Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni (Armenian American bi mc) *upcoming

SOUTH ASIA

🌈 The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri (Indian inspired cast & setting, lesbian mcs) tw homophobia, gore, violence, execution by burning, forced drug use, torture, death, body horror
🌈 The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar (Bengali Muslim lesbian mc, Afro-Brazilian Irish bi li) tw homophobia, racism, outing, bullying
Falling into Place by Sheryn Munir (Indian cast & setting, lesbian mc, bi li)
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (Pakistani cast, bi/pan mc, gay side characters) tw sexual assault, suicidal ideation, violence
🌈 Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S.J. Sindu (Sri Lankan American cast, lesbian mc, sapphic character, gay character)

🌈 The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw (sapphic mcs, genderfluid mc, nonbinary mc)
Bright Lines by Tanwi Nandini Islam (Bangladeshi American cast, sapphic mc)
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews (Indian American sapphic mc)
🌈 Afterlove by Tanya Byrne (British Indo-Guyanese lesbian mc, lesbian li) tw death, mentions of suicides & overdoses
The Quilt & Other Stories by Ismat Chughtai, trans. Tahira Naqvi & Syeda S. Hameed (Indian cast & setting, lesbian mc)

SOUTHEAST ASIA

🌈 Black Water Sister by Zen Cho (Chinese Malaysian lesbian mc, Indian American lesbian side character) tw violence, attempted rape
🌈 Dauntless by Elisa A. Bonnin (Filipino-inspired setting & characters, lesbian mc, bi li, f/f relationship)
🌈 In the Vanishers’ Palace by Aliette de Bodard (Vietnamese cast & setting, lesbian mc, bi mc)
🌈 The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo (Southeast Asian inspired cast & setting, nonbinary mc, sapphic characters)
You, Me, U.S. by Brigitte Bautista (Filipino sapphic mcs)

Mamo, Vol. 1 by Sas Milledge (Filipino sapphic mc, sapphic mc) tw mention of past child abuse
🌈 How the Man in Green Saved Pahang, and Possibly the World by Joshua Kam (Malaysian cast & setting, achillean mcs, sapphic mcs)
The Mouse Marathon by Ovidia Yu (Singaporean sapphic mc)
Women Loving by Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz (Filipino sapphic mcs)
Lion City by Ng Yi-Sheng (Singaporean cast & setting, gay characters, lesbian character)

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