Stories rooted in African, Asian, Latin American, Indigenous, or Middle Eastern mythology or folklore

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

This book got me out of a reading slump back in 2020. Two sisters. Two bloodlines. Two hundred years of history rooted in the traditions, spiritual beliefs, and cultural memory of Ghana and the African diaspora. This isn't just a story about what was taken — it's about what survived. And what survival costs across generations.

The Cuentista series by Barba Higuera

The Last Cuentista / Alebrijes / Firesnake (Book 3 releases June 2, 2026)

This is one of my all time favorite books. A Mexican-American girl carries the stories of Earth across the galaxy after civilization is destroyed — because someone has to remember. Rooted in the oral storytelling traditions of Mexican and Latin American culture, this book understands something most science fiction forgets: that stories aren't entertainment. They're survival.

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

I’ve been reading from this collection as part of my commitment to read 1 short story a week every week for the rest of 2026! This is an anthology of dark fiction by Indigenous authors drawing from the full breadth of Native American and First Nations storytelling traditions. These are stories that have always existed at the edge of the firelight — and they are not here to comfort you. They are here to tell the truth.

After dark by Haruki Murakami

One night in Tokyo, seen through the eyes of strangers connected by invisible threads. Murakami draws on Japanese folklore's relationship with the liminal — the hours between midnight and dawn where the boundary between the waking world and something else gets dangerously thin. Short, strange, and impossible to shake.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A boy. A Bengal tiger. A lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Rooted in Hindu, Muslim, and Christian spiritual traditions, this book asks the question that sits at the heart of all mythology: what story do we tell to make sense of the world? And does it matter if it's true?