Category: South Asia

Witchy

By Ariel Ries

Hyalin is kingdom of witches where the strength of your magic is determined by the length of your hair, but when your hair is too long you become a danger to the kingdom. Nyneve hides her long hair every morning before going to school, but when conscription time comes around she is unable to hid anymore and makes a drastic decision with unforeseen consequences.

Authors Description:

Witchy is an ongoing webcomic about the young witch Nyneve, who is haunted by the death of her father and the threat the witch guard poses to her own life. When conscription rolls around, Nyneve has a choice to make; join the institution complicit in her father’s death, or stand up for her ideals?

Genre: Fantasy, Comic

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Nyneve
Cis boys: Bato
Trans girls: Prill

Sexuality:
Bisexual: Prill
Not mentioned yet: Batu, Nyneve

Romantic Orientation:
Not mentioned in the book.

Race/Ethnicity:
Afghan/Indian: Nyneve
Chinese/Southeast Asian: Prill
Mongolian/Tibetan: Batu

Location: Fantasy Southeast Asian/Oceana country

Trigger Warnings: Bullying, death, running away from home, transphobia.

Additional Notes: This is an ongoing webcomic, read it here: http://witchycomic.com/comic/page-1/

Ownvoices: Creator is queer

Ending: Comic is ongoing.

Babyji

By Abha Dawesar

Sixteen year old Anamika is in her final year of school in Delhi and is applying for university to study physics while coming into her sexuality. She has relationships with a girl of her own caste, a girl of a lower caste, and a much older woman

Publisher’s Description

Sexy, surprising, and subversively wise, Babyji is the story of Anamika Sharma, a spirited student growing up in Delhi. At school she is an ace at quantum physics. At home she sneaks off to her parents’ scooter garage to read the Kamasutra. Before long she has seduced an elegant older divorcée and the family servant, and has caught the eye of a classmate coveted by all the boys.

With the world of adulthood dancing before her, Anamika confronts questions that would test someone twice her age. Ebullient, unfettered, and introducing one of the most charming heroines in contemporary fiction, Babyji is irresistible.

Genre: Historical

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Anamika

Sexual  Orientation:
Lesbian/Queer/Bisexual: Anamika

Romantic Orientation:
Biromantic or homoromantic: Anamika

Race/Ethnicity:
South Asian: Anamika

Religion:
Hinduism

Trigger warnings: Sexual assault/rape

Own voices

 

Miss Timmins’ School for Girls

By Nayana Currimbhoy

Set in 1970s India, Charu is a 21-year-old Brahmin girl starting to teach at a British boarding school. She meets a white lesbian teacher, but their romance is disturbed by a sudden murder at the school.

Publisher’s Description:

A murder at a British boarding school in the hills of western India launches a young teacher on the journey of a lifetime

In 1974, three weeks before her twenty-first birthday, Charulata Apte arrives at Miss Timmins’ School for Girls in Panchgani. Shy, sheltered, and running from a scandal that disgraced her Brahmin family, Charu finds herself teaching Shakespeare to rich Indian girls in a boarding school still run like an outpost of the British Empire. In this small, foreign universe, Charu is drawn to the charismatic teacher Moira Prince, who introduces her to pot-smoking hippies, rock ‘n’ roll, and freedoms she never knew existed.

Then one monsoon night, a body is found at the bottom of a cliff, and the ordered worlds of school and town are thrown into chaos. When Charu is implicated in the murder—a case three intrepid schoolgirls take it upon themselves to solve—Charu’s real education begins.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Charu, Moira

Sexual Orientation:
Bisexual: Charu (note: Charu never uses the word bisexual to describe her sexuality but describes “being attracted to both sexes.”
Lesbian/Queer:Moira

Romantic Orientation:
Not explicitly addressed.

Race/Ethnicity:
Indian: Charu
White: Moira

Religion:
Hindu: Charu

Trigger Warnings:
Murder, dead queer

Additional Notes: Describes British colonialism.

Ownvoices: Indian

Swimming in the Monsoon Sea

By Shyam Selvadurai

Set in Sri Lanka in 1980, this is the lyrical coming-of-age story of Amrith. Amrith is dreading the dull school holidays, but when his cousin Niresh arrives from Canada, everything changes. At the end of Niresh’s visit, Amrith realizes he is falling in love with his cousin.

Publisher’s Description:

The setting is Sri Lanka, 1980, and it is the season of monsoons. Fourteen-year-old Amrith is caught up in the life of the cheerful, well-to-do household in which he is being raised by his vibrant Auntie Bundle and kindly Uncle Lucky. He tries not to think of his life “before,” when his doting mother was still alive. Amrith’s holiday plans seem unpromising: he wants to appear in his school’s production of Othello and he is learning to type at Uncle Lucky’s tropical fish business. Then, like an unexpected monsoon, his cousin arrives from Canada and Amrith’s ordered life is storm-tossed. He finds himself falling in love with the Canadian boy.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Representation:
Gender:
Cis boys: Amrith

Sexual Orientation:
Gay/Queer: Amrith

Romantic Orientation:
Not explicitly addressed.

Race/Ethnicity:
Indian: Amrith

 

Ownvoices: Queer, Indian

Avenged (Vanished #2)

By E.E. Cooper

Avenged is the conclusion to the Vanished duology. Kalah is sure that Brit killed her almost-girlfriend Beth, and pretends to be Brit’s best friend to get the information that she needs for revenge.

Publisher’s Description: 

Avenged is the conclusion to the Vanished duology, an absorbing, psychological suspense story about friendship, deception, jealousy, and love, perfect for fans of the Pretty Little Liars series and We Were Liars. 

Everyone believes Beth’s death was an accident, except for Kalah. The girl she loved was stolen from her, and now Kalah’s broken heart wants revenge. In order to crack Brit’s perfect alibi, Kalah pretends to be Brit’s best friend—with the sole mission to destroy her.

Kalah knows that playing Brit’s game is deadly. One wrong move could cost someone her life, including her own…but the more lies Kalah tells, the closer she is to the twisted truth.

Genre: Mystery/thriller

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Kalah,

Sexual  Orientation:
Bisexual: Kalah

Romantic Orientation:
Biromantic: Kalah

Race/Ethnicity:
South Asian: Kalah

Disability:
Mental illness: Kalah (OCD, Anxiety)

Trigger warnings: Death, murder.

Ownvoices: Queer, Asian