"First-Person Poverty" Among Four Titles Selected as Asia's Book of the Year

2025 Asia Book Awards to Be Held
Four Titles Named "Asia's Book of the Year"
Awards Ceremony Scheduled for November 6

The Korea Publishers Association announced on the 30th that it has selected four titles, including "First-Person Poverty" by An On (published by Mati), as the winners of the "Asia's Book of the Year" award. The awards ceremony will be held on November 6 at the 2025 Asia Publishers Forum.

2025 Asia Book Awards 'Asia's Book of the Year' Winner. Provided by the Korea Publishers Association

Now in its fifth year, the Asia Book Awards selects four books as "Asia's Book of the Year" from works that have excelled in the fields of humanities, social sciences, and science and technology related to Asia, as well as those that have interpreted changes in contemporary society with a unique perspective and attracted attention from the media and readers.

The winners of the 2025 Asia Book Awards "Asia's Book of the Year" are as follows: "First-Person Poverty" by An On; "War, Colonial Rule, and Archives" by Masahito Ando; "Subjectivity and the Zhou Dynasty System" by Yu Gang; and "From the Periphery to the Center" by Su Chintai, Chen Tianzhi, and Wu Sumin. Ten leading publishers from five Asian regions (Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) participated as selection committee members. The winners were chosen after an intense deliberation process among ten nominated books.

"War, Colonial Rule, and Archives," published by the University of Tokyo Press, is recognized for its in-depth exploration of the loss and preservation of historical records during World War II. "Subjectivity and the Zhou Dynasty System," published by Guangxi Normal University Press in China, was awarded for its rigorous philological examination of the influence of the Zhou Dynasty system on the formation and governance of early East Asian states.

"First-Person Poverty," published by Mati, was praised for its profound and original depiction of poverty in modern society through personal narratives. "From the Periphery to the Center," published by Taiwan's Commonwealth Publishing Group, was also selected for its analysis of the success of Taiwan's semiconductor industry from an Asian perspective.

The 2025 Asia Book Awards ceremony will be held at 2:30 p.m. on November 6 at the 50th Anniversary Hall of the Changbi Seogyo Building during the 2025 Asia Publishers Forum. The event will include the awards ceremony, screening of acceptance speeches, and an exhibition of the winning books. The winning publishers will receive a prize of 5 million won, a monument, and a trophy.