The Third World was a project, not a place. That's the premise of VIJAY PRASHAD's newest book, a fascinating reconstruction of the movement of the world's poor countries to establish an alternative global order during the era of the Cold War. Led by post-colonial titans like Nehru, Nasser, and Nkrumah, newly liberated societies joined forces to put forward an incredibly ambitious global program—before it all came crashing down. APF's own Andrew Hsiao edited The Darker Nations, released this year in paperback.

Jun Nakayama was a silent film star in the early days of Hollywood, but by 1964, he finds himself living in obscurity--until a young writer tracks him down living in L.A. Nakayama's recounting of his rise to stardom opens up memories of sexism, anti-Asian prejudice, and the scandal that led to his retreat from the public eye. This is the setting for Nina Revoyr's historical noir, The Age of Dreaming.

In her novel Love Marriage, VASUGI V. GANESHANANTHAN shifts between Sri Lanka, the country of her roots, and the Western world, to craft an immigrant story involving politics and personal conflict. The main character Yalini leaves Sri Lanka for Toronto to care for her uncle Kumaran, a former member of the militant Tamil Tigers. Yalini finds violence to be no relic of the Sri Lankan past but very much a part of her Western present.

A sprawling family with 13 kids and another on the way; a teen protagonist who wants to be a rocker like, er, Bryan Adams; copious amounts of sex—these are some of the elements in KARAN MAHAJAN's new, laugh-out-loud book Family Planning, a satire that is decidedly not your typical Indian novel.

The Filipino poet Jose Garcia Villa was known as the Pope of Greenwich Village. As the only Asian poet in the circle of such giants as W.H. Auden, ee cummings, Tennessee Williams and Elizabeth Bishop, Villa held a special place in the poetic movements of the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Yet, despite his significant contributions to poetry in the US, Villa has been largely overlooked. A new collection of his poetry aims to change this. Poet and writer LUIS FRANCIA will read from the Doveglion: Collected Poems.