Popular Asian Feminism Books
Find feminism books written by authors from Asia for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (33)
Iran2.
A Woman Like Her : The Short Life of Qandeel Baloch by Sanam Maher EN
PakistanDescription:
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020'The powerful story of a woman who was ahead of her time' Mishal Husain, presenter at BBC News'Terrific and necessary' Sonia Faleiro'This book is brilliant and terrifying' Meena Kandasamy_________________________ A beautiful woman in winged eyeliner and a low-cut top lies on a bed urging her favourite cricketer to win the next match. In another post, she pouts at the camera from a hot tub. She posts a selfie with a cleric, wearing his cap at a jaunty angle. Her posts are viewed millions of times and the comments beneath them a... continue
3.
Afghanistan, Where God Only Comes to Weep by Siba Shakib EN
Description:
One woman’s harrowing story about life under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Shirin-Gol was just a young girl when her village was levelled by the Russians in 1979. When the men in her family joined the resistance, she fled with the other women and children to Kabul, and so began a life of day-to-day struggle in her war-torn country. A life that included a Pakistani refugee camp, a forced marriage to pay off her brother’s gambling debts, selling her body and begging for money to feed her growing family, an attempted suicide and an unsuccessful attempt to leave Afghanistan for Iran after the... continue
4.
Arid Dreams : Stories by Duanwad Pimwana EN
ThailandDescription:
From Thailand's preeminent contemporary female writer, Duanwad Pimwana's first English-language collection is a social realist exploration of Thai culture.
5.
Daring to Drive : A Saudi Woman’s Awakening by Manal Sharif EN
Country: Asia / 
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Description:
A memoir by a Saudi Arabian woman who became the unexpected leader of a movement to support women's rights describes how fundamentalism influenced her radical religious beliefs until her education, a job, and legal contradictions changed her perspectives.
6.
Diary of a Void : A Novel by Emi Yagi EN
JapanDescription:
*One of The New Yorker’s Best Books of the Year* *As heard on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday* “One of the most passionate cases I’ve ever read for female interiority, for women’s creative pulse and rich inner life.” ―Katy Waldman, The New Yorker “Always expect the unexpected when you’re not expecting.” ―Sloane Crosley A woman in Tokyo avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she’s pregnant in this prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about the mother of all deceptions, for fans of Convenience Store Woman and Breasts and Eggs When thirty-four... continue
7.
Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi EN
Description:
From the best–selling author of Persepolis comes this gloriously entertaining and enlightening look into the sex lives of Iranian women. Embroideries gathers together Marjane’s tough–talking grandmother, stoic mother, glamorous and eccentric aunt and their friends and neighbors for an afternoon of tea drinking and talking. Naturally, the subject turns to love, sex and the vagaries of men. As the afternoon progresses, these vibrant women share their secrets, their regrets and their often outrageous stories about, among other things, how to fake one’s virginity, how to escape an arranged marriag... continue
8.
PalestineDescription:
An NPR Best Book of the Year “A moving meditation on motherhood, inter-generational trauma and how surface appearances often obscure a deeper truth. . . . A stunning second novel from a writer who set the bar very high with her first!”—Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics and Community Board The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of A Woman Is No Man returns with a striking exploration of the expectations of a Palestinian-American woman, the meaning of a fulfilling life, and the ways our unresolved pasts affect our presents. "After Yara is placed on pr... continue
9.
French Lover by Taslima Nasrin EN
Country: Asia / 
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Description:
French Lover is the story of Nilanjana, a young Bengali woman from Kolkata who moves to Paris after getting married to Kishanlal, a restaurant owner. Kishanlal's luxurious apartment seems to be a gilded cage for Nilanjana, and she feels stifled within its friendless confines. Her marriage, where she functions as little more than a housekeeper and sex object, is far from fulfilling and Nilanjana desperately looks for a way out of the boredom and depression that threaten to engulf her. It is at this point that she meets Benoir Dupont, a blond, blue-eyed handsome Frenchman, and is swept off her f... continue
10.
Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto EN
Description:
"An elegiac story of two young cousins coming of age at the Japanese seaside, Goodbye, Tsugumi is an enchanting novel"