Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebrations

Celebrate Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month at San Mateo County Libraries! We’re delighted to partner with local Bay Area artists, musicians and storytellers sharing diverse AAPI stories, artwork, cultures and heritage.

Events to Explore

Year-round, we host virtual art talks with the Asian Art Museum. Register for our next online art talk about Arts Across Asia: Masterpieces of the Asian Art Museum on Monday, May 1 at 7:00 PM.

Diamond Head Jazz

Diamond Head Jazz, opens a new window is a local jazz band with dynamic sounds. Diamond Head Jazz has been captivating audiences with their engaging performances since 2013. They are known for their various jazz styles. Whether performing in intimate jazz clubs or on big stages, Diamond Head Jazz never fails to impress and entertain their audiences.

FilAm Arts With ChiChai: Whimsical Paper Bouquet

ChiChai, opens a new window (she/her) is an artist, educator and community-gatherer born and raised in Occupied Ohlone Land, also known as the Bay Area. Whether teaching or creating, ChiChai's work is intersectional in its roots to nature, feminism and the dismantling of colonial mindsets. Through fashion design, murals and mixed media, ChiChai aims to honor indigenous craftsmanship, the matriarch that has raised her and Mama Earth. You can catch her teaching art and how to use art as a tool for decolonizing to all ages.

Haopinaka Hawaiian Music & Dance Performance

Haopinaka, opens a new window was formed in 1998 when three friends from different backgrounds came together to share their love of Hawaiian music. The name “HAOPINAKA” is a combination of the words HAO-le (white guy), PI-noy (Filipino guy), and ka-NAKA (Hawaiian guy). And it is this unique friendship of cultures and styles that creates the sweet and lively sound of Haopinaka.

Intuitive Embroidery With Stitches By Tiff

Tiffany "Tiff" Tzeng, opens a new window is a modern embroidery artist based in San Jose, stitching since 2018. As a self-taught artist, Tiff loves to experiment with color, texture and multimedia and is inspired by eccentric subjects. Through her inclusive embroidery kits and workshops, she hopes to promote meditation through slow art.

More Awesome Asian Americas With Author Oliver Chin

Oliver Chin, opens a new window is a children’s author, illustrator and publisher of numerous books, including Tales from the Chinese Zodiac series and other well-known children's books. His newest book is the exciting graphic novelMore Awesome Asian Americans: 20 Citizens Who Energized America. This sequel shares more fascinating biographies of remarkable individuals who've contributed to our country and our world. This spectacularly illustrated anthology profiles 10 women and 10 men, from a rainbow of ethnic backgrounds and vocations.

My Two and a Half Years Behind Barbed Wire in the U.S. During WWII

Yukio Shimomura will be sharing his family’s experience during the 40s when WWII started and how Executive Order 9066 affected his family. He will discuss leaving San Francisco, entering the incarceration camps in San Bruno, Tanforan (San Bruno) Race Track, and in Topaz (Delta), Utah. Yukio will present what his parents went through with his older brothers and Yukio, the lifestyle in the camp, the dynamics in the camp and the significant ironies.

Origami Book In A Box With Book Arts Roadshow

Book Arts Roadshow, opens a new window was co-founded by Cheryl Ball and C.K.Itamura to provide Book Arts instruction and hands-on learning experiences for children, families and grown-ups. Cheryl Ball is a native San Franciscan who has always loved books and paper with certifications in Bookbinding. C.K.Itamura is a Yonsei, Nikkei interdisciplinary artist based in Sonoma County, California. Her conceptual, visual, performance and community engagement art serves to engage diverse multicultural, intergenerational audiences in the exploration of observation, contemplation and expressive imagination.

This Is Not My Home: Author Storytime With Vivienne & Eugenia

Eugenia Yoh and Vivienne Chang, opens a new window are students at Washington University in St. Louis. Eugenia studied Communication Design and is now a Junior Designer at Chronicle Books in San Francisco. Vivienne is still in St. Louis and studies Economics & Finance. They hope to continue telling stories that simplify seemingly universal ideas through humor. This Is Not My Home is their debut picture book about a humorous and heartfelt reverse immigration story that will resonate across cultures and show us how a place can become home.

Discover More Stories

Discover more inspiring and diverse stories in books for families, teens and adults all written by by Asian American Pacific Islander authors.

You Are Life

An inspiring picture book written in response to Anti-Asian violence, encouraging Asian American families and children to celebrate themselves and all that they do.

All My Rage

Sabaa Tahir is Pakistani-American, and her latest book, All My Rage won the 2023 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. The book explores a coming-of-age story of two best friends trying to navigate family expectations and what home means to them when they don’t fit in.

Money Out Loud

Berna Anat is a first-generation Filipino American and Financial Hype Woman educating people about money topics in very relatable and funny social media posts. Her book helps people start talking about money out loud by first understanding how their relationship with money was influenced by how their families talked about it—or didn’t talk about it.