20% OFF* selected titles in February.

From Kwan to Kusama, Tagore to Tamaki, Kang, and beyond… here are some crazy good Asian authors we think you should check out this month!

The popularity of Japanese works in translation and books on Japanese culture, and the love our staff and readers have for them have been a mainstay here at Kino since the beginning. Recently, we have noticed that this interest is expanding to include authors, works and ideas from all across Asia, with works from China, Singapore, North Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India and their diasporas all increasing in appeal.

Here we have gathered a selection of our favourite Asian authors as a jumping off point for some new experiences inspired by some of our closest neighbours.

Visit us in store to check out the full selection!

 

 

 

The Garden of Evening Mists
by Tan Twan Eng
RRP $19.99 | Sale price $15.99

In the highlands of Malaya, a woman sets out to build a memorial to her sister, killed at the hands of the Japanese during the brutal Occupation of their country. Yun Ling’s quest leads her to The Garden of Evening Mists, and to Aritomo. When she accepts his offer to become his apprentice, she begins a journey into her past, inextricably linked with the secrets of her troubled country’s history.

 

 

The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy
RRP $19.99 | Sale price $15.99

Set against a background of political turbulence in Kerala, Southern India, this is the story of twins Esthappen and Rahel. They try to craft a childhood for themselves amidst what constitutes their family – their lonely, lovely mother, their beloved Uncle Chacko (pickle baron, radical Marxist and bottom-pincher) and their avowed enemy Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grand-aunt).

 

 

 

Infidel
by Pornsak Pichetshote
RRP $26.40 | Sale price $21.12

A haunted house story for the 21st century, Infidel follows an American Muslim woman and her multi-racial neighbors who move into a building haunted by entities that feed off xenophobia.

 

 

 

 

Ponti
by Sharlene Teo
RRP $29.99 | Sale price $23.99

Set in Singapore, and spanning fifty years, Ponti is the story of three women: sixteen-year-old Szu; her monstrous and beautiful mother, Amisa; and Circe, Szu’s unlikely friend. Ponti is about friendship and memory, about the things we do when we’re on the cusp of adulthood that haunt us years later.

 

 

 

 

At Dusk
by Hwang Sok-Yong
RRP $27.99 | Sale price $22.39

Parl Minwoo is a success story. Born into poverty in a miserable neighbourhood of Seoul, he has ridden the wave of development in his country. Now the director of a large architectural firm, his hard work and ambition have brought him triumph and satisfaction. But that all begins to change when he receives a message from a childhood friend and he recalls a world he thought he had left behind – a world he now realises that he has helped to destroy.

 

 

 

The Vegetarian
by Han Kang
RRP $19.99 | Sale price $15.99

Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people whose acceptable flatline of a marriage is interrupted when Yeong-hye decides to become a vegetarian, something that is almost unheard of in South Korea. Her passive rebellion manifests in frightening forms, and she starts to change… A beautiful, unsettling novel about rebellion and taboo, violence and eroticism, and the twisting metamorphosis of a soul.

 

 

 

Apple and Knife
by Intan Paramaditha
RRP $27.99 | Sale price $22.39

These short fictions set in the Indonesian everydayreveal a soupy otherworld stewing just beneath the surface. Sometimes wacky and always engrossing, this is subversive feminist horror at its best, where men and women alike are arbiters of fear, and where revenge is sometimes sweetest when delivered from the grave.

 

 

 

The Refugees
by Viet Thanh Nguyen
RRP $19.99 | Sale price $15.99

Beautifully written and sharply observed, this story collection gives voice to lives led between two worlds, the adopted homeland and the country of birth. A captivating testament to the dreams and hardships of immigration, and the relationships and desires for self-fulfillment that define our lives.

 

 

 

 

The Corpse Walker and Other True Stories of Life in China
by Yiwu Liao
RRP $29.99 | Sale price $23.99

This collection of extraordinary interviews opens a window, unlike any other, onto the lives of ordinary, often outcast, Chinese men and women, including a professional mourner, a human trafficker, a leper, an abbot, a retired government official, a feng shui master, a former Red Guard, a political prisoner, a village teacher, a Falun Gong practitioner and a corpse walker. The result is an idiosyncratic, powerful and dignified portrait of a people, a time and a place we might otherwise have never known.

 

 

Growing up Asian in Australia
Edited by Alice Pung
RRP $29.95 | Sale price $23.96

Asian-Australians have often been written about by outsiders, as outsiders. In this collection they tell their own stories with verve, courage and a large dose of humour. Tales of leaving home, falling in love, coming out and finding one’s feet, from well-known authors and exciting new voices, spanning several generations and drawn from all over Australia.

 

 

 

Confessions of a Yakuza
by Jun’ichi Saga
RRP $18.70 | Sale price $14.96

The true story, as told to the doctor who looked after him just before he died, of the life of one of the last traditional yakuza in Japan. It wasn’t a ‘good’ life, in either sense of the word, but it was an adventurous one; and the tale he has to tell presents an honest and oddly attractive picture of an insider in that separate, unofficial world.

 

 

 

All My Darling Daughters
by Fumi Yoshinaga
RRP $18.98 | Sale price $15.18

Fumi Yoshinaga weaves together the disparate lives of Yukiko and her friends in five short stories, exploring the women’s various relationships with the skill and elegance she is famous for. Yukiko, a salarywoman in her thirties, still lives with her mother Mari. But their relationship suffers a sudden change when Mari announces that she’s getting married–to an ex-host and aspiring actor who’s younger than Yukiko. Yukiko, convinced he’s out to fleece her mom, can’t stand to stay in the house and decides to move in with her boyfriend.

 

In Blossom
by Yooju Cheon
RRP $24.99 | Sale price $19.99

One day, a cat and dog meet on a bench. The cat eats her lunch. The dog reads his book. But the sun twinkles, the breeze blows, and there’s something sweet in the air…

This is a beautifully illustrated story of the joys of spring and finding a new friend.

 

 

A Ghost in My Suitcase
by Gabrielle Wang
RRP $16.99 | Sale price $13.59

When thirteen-year-old Celeste travels to China to visit her grandmother, she uncovers an incredible family secret. And with this secret comes danger and adventure. If Celeste is to save her family and friends, she must learn to harness her rare and powerful gift . . .

 

 

 

 

Starfish
by Akemi Dawn Bowman
RRP $15.99 | Sale price $12.79

A gorgeous and emotionally resonant debut novel about a half-Japanese teen who grapples with social anxiety and her narcissist mother in the wake of a crushing rejection from art school. From debut author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that emerges when we embrace our true selves.

 

 

 

Emergency Contact
by Mary H. K. Choi
RRP $16.99 | Sale price $14.39

When Penny Lee heads to college in Texas it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind. Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.

 

 

Infinity Net
by Yayoi Kusama
RRP $24.95 | Sale price $19.96

Yayoi Kusama is one of the most significant contemporary artists at work today. This engaging autobiography tells the story of her life and extraordinary career in her own words, revealing her as a fascinating figure and maverick artist who channels her obsessive neuroses into an art that transcends cultural barriers.

 

 

 

Designing Design
by Kenya Hara
RRP $85.00 | Sale price $68.00

Representing a new generation of designers in Japan, Kenya Hara pays tribute to his mentors, using long overlooked Japanese icons and images in much of his work. In Designing Design, he impresses upon the reader the importance of “emptiness” in both the visual and philosophical traditions of Japan, and its application to design.

 

 

 

Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India
by Shashi Tharoor
RRP $24.99 | Sale price $19.99

The real story of the British in India — from the arrival of the East India Company to the end of the Raj —revealing how Britain’s rise was built upon its plunder of India. Beyond conquest and deception, the Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised racism, and caused millions to die from starvation. Tharoor details the devastating effect the inglorious reality of Britain’s stained Indian legacy.

 

The Art of Tea
by Kakuzo Okakura
RRP $22.99 | Sale price $18.39

Okakura celebrates the Way of Tea from its ancient origins in Chinese Taoism to its culmination in the Zen discipline known as the Japanese tea ceremony–an enchanting practice bringing together such arts as architecture, pottery, and flower arranging to create an experience that delights the senses, calms the mind, and refreshes the spirit.

 

 

 

 

The Courage to be Disliked
by Ichiro Kishimi
RRP $24.99 | Sale price $19.99

A philosopher explains to his pupil how each of us is able to determine our own lives, free of the shackles of past experiences, doubts and the expectations of others. It’s a way of thinking that’s deeply liberating, allowing us to develop the courage to change, and to ignore the limitations that we and those around us can place on ourselves. Highly accessible and profound in its importance.

 

 

The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down
by Haemin Sunim
RRP $19.99 | Sale price $15.99

The world moves fast, but that doesn’t mean we have to. This timely guide to mindfulness offers advice on everything from handling setbacks to dealing with rest and relationships. With insight and compassion, Buddhist monk Haemin Sunim encourages us to notice that when you slow down, the world slows down with you.

 

 

 

Reset
by Ellen Pao
RRP $39.99 | Sale price $31.99

In 2015, Ellen Pao’s trial against the powerhouse firm Kleiner Perkins shook things up as she spoke out against the subtle and insidious discrimination women, people of color, and others experience daily in corporate America. When she lost her case, her supporters were outraged, but Pao resolved to keep fighting. She called for tech companies to uphold their moral responsibility, and her experiences \are told here in jaw-dropping detail. After it all, Pao realized, we need to hit reset. Her account is the story of a whistleblower who aims to empower anyone who struggles to be heard, in Silicon Valley and beyond.

 

 

Economics: A User’s Guide
by Ha-Joon Chang
RRP $22.99 | Sale price $18.39

Ha-Joon Chang explains how the global economy works, and why anyone can understand the dismal science. Unlike many economists who claim there is only one way of ‘doing economics’, he introduces readers to a wide range of economic theories, from classical to Keynesian, revealing how they all have their strengths, weaknesses and blind spots. By ignoring the received wisdom, and exposing the myriad forces that shape our financial fate, Chang provides the tools that every responsible citizen needs to understand – and address – our current economic woes.

 

 

 

CRAZY GOOD ASIAN POETS

 

 

 

 

 

CRAZY GOOD ASIAN CHILDREN’S AUTHORS

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Not in conjunction with any other offer. Applies to selected marked titles only until 28 February 2019.