Asian American Youth Literature: Immigration, Imagination and the Library

Asian American youth literature began slowly in the early 20th century, with outsider-written folk tales and few stories about Asians in the U.S. post-WWII books addressed Japanese American incarceration and Korean War orphans, but it wasn’t until the Civil Rights Movement and post-1965 immigration that more authentic stories emerged. “Children of 1965” authors began publishing award-winning youth books. This lecture explores the genre’s development within broader immigration and social contexts, linking literature with youth library services. Dr. Sarah Park Dahlen, an expert in Asian American youth literature and Korean adoption, researches, edits, and writes extensively in this field.