Popular Asian Biography Books
Find biography books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (89)
71.
MalaysiaDescription:
From the the award-winning author of Five Star Billionaire and The Harmony Silk Factory comes a whirlwind personal history of modern Asia, as told through his Malaysian and Chinese heritage. In The Face: Strangers on a Pier, acclaimed author Tash Aw explores the panoramic cultural vitality of modern Asia through his own complicated family story of migration and adaptation, which is reflected in his own face. From a taxi ride in present-day Bangkok, to eating Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1980s Kuala Lumpur, to his grandfathers’ treacherous boat journeys to Malaysia from mainland China in the 1920s... continue
72.
The Fox Hunt : A Refugee’s Memoir of Coming to America by Mohammed Al Samawi EN
YemenDescription:
“Nail-bitingly suspenseful. ... Inspiring. ... Essential reading.” — Booklist, starred review The Fox Hunt tells one young man’s unforgettable story of war, unlikely friendship, and his harrowing escape from Yemen's brutal civial war with the help of a daring plan engineered on social media by a small group of interfaith activists in the West. Born in the Old City of Sana’a, Yemen, to a pair of middle-class doctors, Mohammed Al Samawi was a devout Muslim raised to think of Christians and Jews as his enemy. But when Mohammed was twenty-three, he secretly received a copy of the Bible, and what h... continue
73.
The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee EN
Country: Asia / 
North Korea
North Korea
Description:
An extraordinary insight into life under one of the world s most ruthless and secretive dictatorships and the story of one woman s terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom. As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was one of millions trapped by a secretive and brutal communist regime. Her home on the border with China gave her some exposure to the world beyond the confines of the Hermit Kingdom and, as the famine of the 1990s struck, she began to wonder, question and to realise that she had been brainwashed her entire life. Given the repressio... continue
74.
The Interpreter's Daughter by Teresa Lim EN
SingaporeDescription:
A photograph passed down through generations inspires this beautifully written, compelling memoir of one Singapore family and the secrets that defined their story A cherished family photograph, taken in Hong Kong, 1935, sets Teresa Lim on a journey to uncover her family history. Through detective work, serendipity, and the kindness of strangers she was guided to the fascinating, ordinary, extraordinary life of her great-aunt Fanny, and her world of sworn spinsters, ghost husbands and the working-class feminists of 19th century south China. But to recover her great-aunt's past, we must first ge... continue
75.
The Pianist of Yarmouk by Aeham Ahmad EN
SyriaDescription:
'Ahmad has created a moving and visceral account of conflict, hope and the power of music' Hannah Beckerman, Observer The incredible and inspirational true story of one young man's struggle to find peace during war, and the power of music to bring hope to a desperate nation. ____________ One morning in war-torn Damascus, a starving man drags a piano into a rubbled street. Everything he once knew has been destroyed by war. Amidst ruin and despair, he begins to play. He plays of love and hope, he plays for his family and his fellow Syrians. He plays even though he could be killed for doing so. A... continue
76.
The Prisoner : A Memoir by Hwang Sok-yong EN
Country: Asia / 
South Korea
South Korea
Description:
A sweeping account of imprisonment--in time, in language, and in a divided country--from Korea's most acclaimed novelist In 1993, writer and democracy activist Hwang Sok-yong was sentenced to five years in the Seoul Detention Center upon his return to South Korea from North Korea, the country he had fled with his family as a child at the start of the Korean War. Already a dissident writer well-known for his part in the democracy movement of the 1980s, Hwang's imprisonment forced him to consider the many prisons to which he was subject--of thought, of writing, of Cold War nations, of the heart.... continue
77.
The Tears of My Soul by Hyŏn-hŭi Kim EN
Country: Asia / North Korea
North Korea
Description:
Kim Hyun Hee was trained by the North Korean Army to be one of the deadliest espionage agents on the face of the Earth. This is the true story of her terrorist acts and her lifelong repentance.
78.
Tomorrow I'm Dead : How a Seventeen-year-old Killing Field Survivor Became the Cambodian Freedom Army's Greatest Soldier by Bun Yom EN
CambodiaDescription:
In 1975, US troops had withdrawn from Cambodia, leaving the people defenseless against Pol Pot’s army, the Khmer Rouge. As the army took over Cambodia, thousands of innocent people were ordered out of their homes. In April 1975, fourteen-year-old Bun Yom was forced at gunpoint, along with his family, to march toward the steaming jungle. After a soldier separated Yom from his family, he had no idea he would not see them again for nine years. In his account of his involuntary journey from a normal childhood to enslavement in conditions so inhumane it seemed only death could free him, Yom shares ... continue
79.
Bangladesh80.
Walking Since Daybreak by Modris Eksteins EN
LatviaDescription:
Part history, part autobiography, Eksteins relates the tragic story of the Baltic nations before, during, and after World War II through personal stories from his family. Photos and map.