Asian Review of books of

The Asian Review of Books began in 2000, created by Peter Gordon with the vision of a dedicated pan-Asian book review publication. More than twenty-five years later, still edited by its creator, the ARB remains the only platform of its kind.

Widely quoted, referenced, republished by leading publications in Asia and beyond and with an archive of several thousand book reviews, articles, essays and excerpts, the ARB provides a forum of intellectual depth and breadth where leading thinkers can write on the books, arts and ideas of the day. ARB reviews have often been reprinted by such publications as the South China Morning Post and Scroll.in. A podcast was added in 2021, delivering weekly interviews with authors. Many of the books reviewed have also been the subject of one of the RSAA’s events or a post on the RSAA blog. Some of them are available in the RSAA’s eLibrary.

Since 2025, the ARB has been part of the RSAA, furthering the Society’s aim of advancing knowledge of Asia, and giving the ARB the organisational support that can secure and sustain its unique position over the long term.

Peter Gordon. in addition to editing the ARB, is also a publisher at Chameleon Press, a frequent commentator in regional Asian media and was a founder and former organizer of the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Hong Kong International Literary Festival. He is co-author of The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the birth of globalisation 1565-1815 (Penguin, 2017) and Painter and Patron: The Maritime Silk Road in the Códice Casanatense (Abbreviated Press, 2020).

Alison Fincher co-edits reviews of Japanese fiction and has published more than fifty reviews of her own since 2020. She is the founder of the website Read Japanese Literature. She has also been interviewed for articles in The Guardian and Nikkei Asia, and appeared on BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight.

Nicholas Gordon has hosted the ARB podcast from its inception. He is a writer, editor and occasional radio host based in Hong Kong. Previously he was a researcher and writer for a Hong Kong-based economic development think tank.

For more information, visit the Asian Review of Books website.