At the station house, the constable, a woman, led Sunil through the station house to the chief inspector’s office. As they walked, the constable informed Sunil that his house had been attacked when Emily was inside. Some boys from the village had scaled the compound wall. Emily had hidden under a computer table in the home office while they’d ransacked the rooms. Eventually she’d come out and confronted them. When they saw her, the boys had run off. She’d gone to the neighbor’s house for help.
Sunil barely listened to the story. He only wanted to know if Emily had been hurt in any way. No, Emily was not hurt, the constable reported, but she was in shock. She had identified one of the vandals, the leader, as the son of Sunil’s cook. Sunil stopped in mid-stride. The constable turned her dark, slanted eyes on him. “Sir, do not be upset. The chief inspector has arrested him. The cook is with the inspector now.”
Amara and Emily sat on either side of the inspector’s office. The chief inspector presided over the scene from behind an ancient teakwood desk. Emily was huddled, despite the heat, her face stained with grime and tears. Sheila ran to her and took her into her arms. Amara sat quietly. She did not acknowledge Sunil.
“You have Amara’s son in custody?” asked Sunil. The chief inspector nodded. Sunil turned to Emily. “You’re okay, baby? You weren’t hurt?”
His daughter smiled bravely as Sheila rubbed her shoulders. “I’m okay, Dad. But they messed up the house.”
The room was badly lit; a cloud of clay dust hung heavy in the air. Sunil had to squint to see. “What will happen?” he asked.
“Her son”—the inspector gestured in Amara’s direction—“will go before the magistrate. In his favor, he didn’t know your daughter was there. He seems sorry. Still, there must be punishment.” Amara tried to speak, but the inspector put up a hand to stop her.
“The boy’s only twelve,” Sunil began. “That’s pretty young. And if he’s sorry?” Amara and Emily were there only because of him. He had to do something. “We don’t want more people to get hurt. We could”—he hesitated—“we could drop the charges. Couldn’t we? I’m sure Amara—I mean, our cook—will punish her son.”
Sheila frowned. Emily’s body tensed. The inspector smiled grimly. “This is not some American police show, sir. This is not the NYPD Blues. We cannot just drop charges against boys, even twelve-year-old boys, who attack foreigners. Imagine what your firm will say. Imagine what your Scottish neighbor will say if we let this boy loose without punishment. The uproar will come down on my head.”
“But you don’t get it,” Sunil sputtered.
The inspector thrust his face toward Sunil. “What, sir, do I not get?”
It came then: the words of Sunil’s nearly full confession. He explained how, because he liked Amara—even cared deeply for her—he’d promised her and her kids they could use the pool. He had also, in a way, reneged. It was obvious how anyone, especially a little boy, would be angry about that. Sunil was new to the country and didn’t know the way things worked. He’d made some mistakes that he didn’t want to go into. Anyone could easily see everything was his fault. He was the only one to blame.
As he spoke, Sunil knew his admission was not having the intended effect. Before Amara and the boys, maybe even before he came to Sri Lanka, there had existed a point when his words had carried import, had had weight and significance, but Sunil couldn’t remember now when or where that point was. How, he wondered, had he become so lost?
The chief inspector listened with the tips of his fingers pressed together as if in prayer. After Sunil had finished, the inspector was quiet for a beat. When he spoke, he pronounced each word carefully, as if he were addressing a small, especially dim child. “There is only so long,” the inspector intoned, “that a man can pretend to be a fool before he really becomes one. No?”
Sheila had left Emily’s side and stood now beside Sunil. She considered Amara and then Sunil, a woman doing a complicated calculation. She placed a hand on Sunil’s shoulder and whispered, “Take your daughter home.” When he did nothing, she said firmly. “For God’s sake, let it go.”
• • •
As he entered his office the next day, Sunil’s secretary handed him a package. “What’s this?” he asked.
“That tape you wanted, sir. Cheap Trick at Budokan. I found it on eBay like you asked. I am very sorry, sir, it took so many days to come.”
Sunil unwrapped the package and took out the tape. The cover was tattered; the label had long ago worn away. He wondered if it was even listenable. He held it in his hands, wound and unwound the strip of shiny brown plastic. Sunil considered keeping it, stashing the tape in his desk. But what was the point? He ran his finger one more time across the cassette before chucking it, brown paper wrapping and all, into the trash.
Reading List of Contemporary Works by Women, Nonbinary, and Transgender Writers of Color/Indigenous Writers
This list is in no way comprehensive. The hope is that it serves as a helpful guide to seeking out various books by writers of color. There are many more works to look forward to (and invest in) that are not included here or are yet to be published. Thank you to those who offered additional title suggestions, as well as to those who continue with the work of collating lists of books by Black, Indigenous, and PoC (BIPOC) artists. These resources helped to make this section as reflective as possible. Additionally, many thanks to my friend Maya Davis, who suggested this list.
Novels and Graphic Novels
Leila Abdelrazaq, Baddawi
Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun
Dylan Allen, Rise
Stephanie Allen, Tonic and Balm
Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits
Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies
Hala Alyan, Salt Houses
Ryka Aoki, He Mele a Hilo
Gina Apostol, Gun Dealers’ Daughter
Nathacha Appanah, The Last Brother
Hannah Lillith Assadi, Sonora
Sandra Rodriguez Barron, Stay with Me
Brit Bennett, The Mothers
Champa Bilwakesh, Desire of the Moth
Nicole Blades, The Thunder Beneath Us
Paulette Boudreaux, Mulberry
Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister, the Serial Killer
Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Powder Necklace
Octavia E. Butler, Lilith’s Brood
Zoey Castile, Stripped
Nidhi Chanani, Pashmina
Jade Chang, The Wangs vs. the World
Janie Chang, Dragon Springs Road
Lan Samantha Chang, Inheritance
Ching-In Chen, recombinant
Kirstin Chen, Bury What We Cannot Take
Wai Chim, Freedom Swimmer
Zen Cho, Sorcerer to the Crown
Andie J. Christopher, Stroke of Midnight
Pearl Cleage, Seen It All and Done the Rest
Zinzi Clemmons, What We Lose
Michelle Cliff, Abeng
Camille Collins, The Exene Chronicles
Maryse Condé, I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem
Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Fruit of the Drunken Tree
Kia Corthron, The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter
Naima Coster, Halsey Street
Patty Yumi Cottrell, Sorry to Disrupt the Peace
Leesa Cross-Smith, Whiskey & Ribbons
Jennine Capó Crucet, Make Your Home among Strangers
Angie Cruz, Soledad
Tsitsi Dangarembga, This Mournable Body
Edwidge Danticat, Claire of the Sea Light
Alexis Daria, Take the Lead
Jasmin Darznik, Song of a Captive Bird
Bridgett M. Davis, Into the Go-Slow
Aliette de Bodard, The House of Shattered Wings
Rios de la Luz, Itzá
Aya de León, The Boss
Ella Cara Deloria, Waterlily
Nicole Dennis-Benn, Here Comes the Sun
Carolina De Robertis, Perl
a
Margaret Dilloway, How to Be an American Housewife
Négar Djavadi, Disoriental
Farzana Doctor, All Inclusive
Tananarive Due, My Soul to Keep
Jenny Kay Dupuis, Kathy Kacer, and Gillian Newland, I Am Not a Number
Heidi W. Durrow, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky
Anjali Mitter Duva, Faint Promise of Rain
Akwaeke Emezi, Freshwater
Patricia Engel, The Veins of the Ocean
Louise Erdrich, The Round House
Ro Esterhazy, Queen of Corona
Angela Flournoy, The Turner House
Aminatta Forna, Happiness
Lauren Francis-Sharma, ’Til the Well Runs Dry
Tee Franklin, Jenn St-Onge, and Joy San, Bingo Love
Savannah J. Frierson, Being Plumville
Kim Fu, The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore
Diana Gabaldon, the Outlander series
Aja Gabel, The Ensemble
M. Evelina Galang, Angel de la Luna and the 5th Glorious Mystery
V. V. Ganeshananthan, Love Marriage
Cristina García, Dreaming in Cuban
Vanessa Garcia, White Light
Hiromi Goto, Chorus of Mushrooms
Kaitlyn Greenidge, We Love You, Charlie Freeman
Jasmine Guillory, The Wedding Date
Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing
Jessica Hagedorn, Dogeaters
Nafisa Haji, The Sweetness of Tears
Janet Campbell Hale, The Jailing of Cecelia Capture
Gail Vida Hamburg, Liberty Landing
Jimin Han, A Small Revolution
Anita Heiss, Tiddas
Cristina Henríquez, The Book of Unknown Americans
Linda Hogan, People of the Whale
Jasmine Hong, The Witch Stone
Nalo Hopkinson, Sister Mine
Vanessa Hua, A River of Stars
Tanwi Nandini Islam, Bright Lines
Naomi Jackson, The Star Side of Bird Hill
Mira Jacob, The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing
S. Jae-Jones, Wintersong
Randa Jarrar, A Map of Home
N. K. Jemisin, the Broken Earth series
Gish Jen, Typical American
Stephanie Jimenez, They Could Have Named Her Anything
Tayari Jones, Leaving Atlanta
Soniah Kamal, An Isolated Incident
Han Kang, The Vegetarian
Kirsten Imani Kasai, The House of Erzulie
Rosalie Morales Kearns, Kingdom of Women
Porochista Khakpour, Sons and Other Flammable Objects
Crystal Hana Kim, If You Leave Me
Lisa Ko, The Leavers
Joy Kogawa, The Rain Ascends
R. O. Kwon, The Incendiaries
Bunmi Laditan, Confessions of a Domestic Failure
Larissa Lai, Salt Fish Girl
Yi Shun Lai, Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu
Ana-Maurine Lara, Erzulie’s Skirt
J. S. Lee, Keurium
Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Somebody’s Daughter
Min Jin Lee, Pachinko
Mira T. Lee, Everything Here Is Beautiful
Carrianne Leung, That Time I Loved You
Lillian Li, Number One Chinese Restaurant
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, Daughters of the Stone
Inverna Lockpez, Dean Haspiel, and José Villarrubia, Cuba: My Revolution
Nilah Magruder, M. F. K.
Sujata Massey, The Widows of Malabar Hill
Bernice L. McFadden, The Book of Harlan
Terry McMillan, How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Harper Miller, The Sweetest Taboo: An Unconventional Romance
Mitzi Miller and Denene Millner, Hotlanta
Toni Morrison, God Help the Child
Bethany C. Morrow, MEM
Nayomi Munaweera, What Lies Between Us
Sayaka Murata, Convenience Store Woman
Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You
Fae Myenne Ng, Bone
Bich Minh Nguyen, Pioneer Girl
Sigrid Nunez, The Last of Her Kind
Brooke C. Obie, Book of Addis: Cradled Embers
Trifonia Melibea Obono, La Bastarda
Nnedi Okorafor, Akata Witch
Chinelo Okparanta, Under the Udala Trees
Priscilla Oliveras, His Perfect Partner
Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, Call Me Zebra
Tracy O’Neill, The Hopeful
Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being
Melinda Palacio, Ocotillo Dreams
Madhuri Pavamani, the Keeper series
L. Penelope, Song of Blood & Stone
Hoa Pham, Wave
Caridad Pineiro, What Happens in Summer
Emily Raboteau, The Professor’s Daughter
Marcie R. Rendon, Murder on the Red River
Laura Restrepo, Delirium
Melissa Rivero, The Affairs of the Falcons
Rebecca Roanhorse, Trail of Lightning
Eden Robinson, Son of a Trickster
Nelly Rosario, Song of the Water Saints
Lydia San Andres, The Infamous Miss Rodriguez
Cristina Sánchez-Andrade, The Winterlings
Chaitali Sen, The Pathless Sky
Danzy Senna, New People
Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire
Jade Sharma, Problems
Nisi Shawl, Everfair
Jude Sierra, A Tiny Piece of Something Greater
Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
S. J. Sindu, Marriage of a Thousand Lies
Monique Gray Smith, Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience
Zadie Smith, On Beauty
Marivi Soliven, The Mango Bride
Rivers Solomon, An Unkindness of Ghosts
Mia Sosa, Acting on Impulse
Martha Southgate, The Taste of Salt
Arigon Starr, Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers
Jen Storm, Scott B. Henderson, and Donovan Yaciuk, Fire Starters
Natalia Sylvester, Everyone Knows You Go Home
Nafkote Tamirat, The Parking Lot Attendant
Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, Sarong Party Girls
Lucy Tan, What We Were Promised
Whit Taylor, Ghost Stories
Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing
Monique Truong, Bitter in the Mouth
Addie Tsai, Dear Twin
Jennifer Tseng, Mayumi and the Sea of Happiness
Thrity Umrigar, The Secrets Between Us
Ellen van Neerven, Heat and Light
Piper Vaughn, Bookmarked
Sabrina Vourvoulias, Ink
Alice Walker, Possessing the Secret of Joy
Esmé Weijun Wang, The Border of Paradise
Weike Wang, Chemistry
Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones
Stephanie Powell Watts, No One Is Coming to Save Us
Karen Tei Yamashita, I Hotel
Désirée Zamorano, The Amado Women
Story Collections
Camille Acker, Training School for Negro Girls
Sharbari Z. Ahmed, The Ocean of Mrs. Nagai
Mia Alvar, In the Country
Lesley Nneka Arimah, What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
Alexia Arthurs, How to Love a Jamaican
Carleigh Baker, Bad Endings
Chaya Bhuvaneswar, White Dancing Elephants
Octavia E. Butler, Bloodchild and Other Stories
May-lee Chai, Useful Phrases for Immigrants
Y. Z. Chin, Though I Get Home
Tom Cho, Look Who’s Morphing
Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories
Tyrese L. Coleman, How to Sit
Hilma Contreras, Entre Dos Silencios
Jennani Durai, Regrettable Things That Happened Yesterday
Danielle Evans, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
Anita Felicelli, Love Songs
for a Lost Continent
Roxane Gay, Ayiti
Stephanie Han, Swimming in Hong Kong
Yang Huang, My Old Faithful
Toni Jensen, From the Hilltop
Kristiana Kahakauwila, This Is Paradise
Barbara F. Kawakami, Picture Bride
Julie Koh, Portable Curiosities
Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth
Krys Lee, Drifting House
Yiyun Li, Gold Boy, Emerald Girl
Jocelyn Lieu, Potential Weapons
Lorraine M. López, Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories
Carmen Maria Machado, Her Body and Other Parties
Sharanya Manivannan, The High Priestess Never Marries
Annam Manthiram, Dysfunction
Donna Miscolta, Hola and Goodbye: Una Familia in Stories
Mary Anne Mohanraj, Bodies in Motion
Meera Nair, Video
Helen Oyeyemi, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
Z. Z. Packer, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Wang Ping, The Last Communist Virgin
Toni Margarita Plummer, The Bolero of Andi Rowe
Shona Ramaya, Operation Monsoon
Ivelisse Rodriguez, Love War Stories
Anjali Sachdeva, All the Names They Used for God
Sofia Samatar, Tender
Renee Simms, Meet Behind Mars
Hasanthika Sirisena, The Other One
Krystal A. Smith, Two Moons
Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, Blue Talk & Love
Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Heads of the Colored People
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, Shadows
Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer, The Water Diviner and Other Stories
Stephanie Powell Watts, We Are Taking Only What We Need
Jia Qing Wilson-Yang, Small Beauty
Tara June Winch, After the Carnage
Erika T. Wurth, Buckskin Cocaine
Tiphanie Yanique, How to Escape from a Leper Colony
Jenny Zhang, Sour Heart
Nonfiction
Stacy Parker Aab, Government Girl: Young and Female in the White House
Faith Adiele, Meeting Faith: An Inward Odyssey
Nancy Agabian, Me as Her Again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter
Luvvie Ajayi, I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age
Huda Al-Marashi, First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-American Love Story
Kathleen Alcalá, The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island
Paula Gunn Allen, Grandmothers of the Light: A Medicine Woman’s Sourcebook
Elizabeth Alexander, The Light of the World: A Memoir