Check out our libraries' selected reads for South Asian Heritage Month

South Asian Heritage Month takes place from Tuesday 18 July to Thursday 17 August 2023 and seeks to elevate and celebrate the prominence of British South Asian history and heritage.

Stories to Tell

This year's theme is Stories to Tell, exploring a range of themes from identity and community to faith and family.

Our libraries service have selected a special range of books from South Asian authors that you can read as part of this South Asian Heritage Month:

Hashim and Family – Shanaz Ahsan

Set between the years 1960 and 1982, and two countries, the story follows an immigrant, Bangladeshi-English family through the generations, following the struggles they face living in the UK. Hashim and Family is a story of family ties, of migration and of a connection to home.

Sea Prayer - Khaled Housseni

A short, powerful, illustrated book written by beloved novelist Khaled Hosseini in response to the current refugee crisis, Sea Prayer is composed in the form of a letter, from a father to his son, on the eve of their journey.

The Movement - Ayisha Malik

A sharply observed novel, charged with compassion and dark wit, that will spark important conversations about how we live, relate and communicate now.

The East Indian – Brinda Charry

Inspired by a historical figure, the exhilarating novel follows the first native of the Indian subcontinent to arrive in Colonial America. The East Indian is a about family, friendship, and finding oneself in the seeds of a new world.

In The Company of Strangers – Awais Khan

Mona has all her heart desires: money, friends, social status... everything aside from freedom. She meets Ali, a young man whose beautiful exterior hides the pain of his humble roots and family tragedy. ‘In The Company of Strangers’ is a captivating tale of love and loss, set against a backdrop of contemporary Pakistan.

A Passage North - Anuk Arudpragasam

One man’s journey through the vividly realised landscape of Sri Lanka’s troubled north in search of answers becomes a voyage into memory and trauma in this illuminating novel that confronts, with great insight and sensitivity, the legacy of the Sri Lankan civil war for communities, individuals and a nation’s divided cultural identity.

Burning my Roti – Sharan Dhaliwal

Both courageous memoir of life as a queer Indian woman and vital manual for South Asian women determined to break away from traditional dictates surrounding beauty and femininity, Burning My Roti fizzes with essential advice and empowering wisdom.