Year of the Asian Reading Challenge 2019: Have Fun Reading More Diversely! 🎉

I am so so excited to announce this challenge to y’all!

2019 is full of so many awesome releases by Asian authors, and I can’t boost them enough! So me and some friends (CW, Lily, & Shealea) have started this reading challenge so we can enjoy awesome Asian novels–old and new–as well as have fun while doing so!

Read on for all the info on how to sign up and what the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge is–and also give CW a high five for all of the gorgeous graphics she conjured up!

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge 2019, aka YARC, a reading challenge dedicated to reading novels by Asian authors, old and new! I’m co-hosting this reading challenge along with three other amazing book bloggers:

CW from The Quiet Pond (thequietpond.com)
Lily from Sprinkles of Dreams (sprinklesofdreams.wordpress.com)
Shealea from [new blog still under construction, oops]
Vicky from Vicky Who Reads (vickywhoreads.wordpress.com)

GUIDELINES

The challenge is to read as many books written by Asian authors as you can! These books can be backlist titles (i.e. released in 2018 or earlier), new releases, and even ARCs. Any genre, format, or length is acceptable! Check out the fun levels we’ve made and decide which one you’ll aim for!

In order for a book to count, you must start and finish it in 2019 because the challenge ends on the 31st of December this year. This means that books started in 2018 and finished in 2019 do not count, unfortunately!

You can join in at any time in the year! The sign-up form will remain open until 2019 ends.

Follow us on Twitter (@YearOfTheAsian) for announcements, surprises, and more bookish fun. The official hashtag for this reading challenge is #YARC2019.

HOW TO JOIN

Announce your intention to participate in YARC in any online platform (e.g. blog, Twitter, Goodreads) and create an progress tracker.
1. If you’re a blogger, announce your participation via blog post, which will serve as your update post. Please make sure to link back to this sign-up post so that other people can join in, too!
2. If you’re a reader without a blog, you can either create a Goodreads shelf that’s dedicated to the books for this challenge, or create a Twitter thread for tracking. Use the hashtag (#YARC2019) for the latter! Please make sure to link back to this sign-up post so that other people can join in, too!
Add you link to the sign up form (here!) and then you can add your sign up post and reviews from that month to the linky (find January’s here!) which will give you entries to the grand prize!
Select your target level and grab your badge! Display your badge on your blog, or share it on social media.
Start reading and keep track of your progress!
Share your updates on social media using the official hashtag: #YARC2019.

CHALLENGE LEVELS

Philippine tarsier: 1 to 10 books read (download here!)
Indian cobra: 11 to 20 books read (download here!)
Malayan tapir: 21 to 30 books read (download here!)
Giant panda: 31 to 40 books read (download here!)
Asian elephant: 41 to 50 books read (download here!)
Bengali tiger: More than 50 books read (download here!)

MORE CHALLENGE FUN (!!!)

MONTHLY LINK-UPS & GIVEAWAY

Monthly link-ups will be posted by Shealea on her new blog on the 2nd day of every month and will close on the 15th day of the next month (e.g. the January form will expire on February 15).
For the monthly link-up, you can submit any of the following links:
- Your updated progress tracker (e.g. blog post, Goodreads shelf, Twitter thread).
- Your review of an Asian book that you read for that month. This could be a review on your blog, on Goodreads, on Amazon, or anywhere online. The review itself does not have to be elaborate; any length will do.
Every link you submit is counted as an entry for the mysterious grand giveaway, which will be drawn once the year ends. (It’s mysterious because we’ll be revealing the prize later on. Be patient!)

MONTHLY PROMPTS & RECOMMENDATIONS

We’ve prepared fun prompts for each month of the year! These prompts will be released quarterly (i.e. January, April, July, October).
Take note that you are free to read whatever you want, but if you want to make this challenge a bit more difficult and exciting, then participate in these prompts.
Because we are the kindest souls ever and we love talking about books written by Asian authors, we will pick three featured books based on the monthly prompts. These featured books will be included in the monthly link-up posts.
CW, Lily, and Vicky will also post a list of recommendations every 1st day of the month to help you build up your TBR.

TWITTER CHATS

Once every two months, there will be a fun #YARC2019 Twitter chat. These chats will be held either on the 3rd or 4th week of the month.
The host for #YARC2019 is @YearOfTheAsian, so don’t forget to give us a follow on that account!