The Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) has presented its 2026 Book Awards to 10 recipients across seven categories. Among this year’s recipients include six women currently serving in tenured or tenure-track faculty roles at colleges and universities in the United States.
Cindy Juyoung Ok, assistant professor of English at the University of California, Davis, won the 2026 AAAS Book Award in Creative Writing: Poetry for her collection, Ward Toward (Yale University Press, 2024). A former high school physics teacher, Ok joined the University of California, Davis faculty in 2024. She previously taught as a lecturer or writer-in-residence at the University of California, San Diego, Wellesley College, and Kenyon College. She is the translator of The Hell of That Star (Wesleyan University Press, 2026) by Kim Hyesoon. Ok holds a master of education degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a master of fine arts degree from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Juliet Nebolon, associate professor of American studies at Trinity College in Connecticut, co-won the 2026 AAAS Book Award in History for her debut book, Settler Militarism: World War II in Hawai‘i and the Making of US Empire (Duke University Press, 2024). Dr. Nebolon’s research and teaching bring a transnational perspective to the study of race, indigeneity, and gender in the United States, with a particular focus on U.S. war and empire in Asia and the Pacific Islands. A graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, Dr. Nebolon holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in American studies from Yale University.
Monisha Das Gupta, department chair and professor of ethnic studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, co-won the 2026 AAAS Book Award in Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary Work for her monograph, All of Us or None: Migrant Organizing in an Era of Deportation and Dispossession (Duke University Press, 2024). Drawing from a feminist and critical ethnic studies framework, Dr. Das Gupta researches migrant-led movements for social justice, with a particular focus on the South Asian diaspora in the United States. In addition to her latest book, she is the author of Unruly Immigrants: Rights, Activism, and Transnational South Asian Politics in the United States (Duke University Press, 2006). A native of Kolkata, India, Dr. Das Gupta earned her bachelor’s degree in geography from Loreto College of the University of Calcutta. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from Brandeis University in Massachusetts.
Pacharee Sudhinaraset, associate professor of English at New York University, won the 2026 AAAS Book Award in Literary Studies for her debut book, Worlds At The End: Los Angeles, Infrastructure, and the Apocalyptic Imagination (Temple University Press, 2024). Dr. Sudhinaraset’s scholarship centers on contemporary U.S. multiethnic literature, ethnic studies, cultural studies, women of color feminisms, comparative racialization, visuality, Los Angeles, and apocalypticism. Dr. Sudhinaraset earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California, Irvine, and both her master’s degree and her Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington.
Celine Parreñas Shimizu, distinguished professor and dean of the School of Theater, Film, and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles, won the 2026 AAAS Book Award in Media, Performance, and Visual Studies for her newest book, The Movies of Racial Childhoods: Screening Self-Sovereignty in Asian/America (Duke University Press, 2024). A scholar of race, sexuality, and representation, Dr. Shimizu has published several books throughout her career, including The Hypersexuality of Race: Performing Asian/American Women on Screen and Scene (Duke University Press, 2007). She is also a filmmaker whose works include 80 Years Later: On Japanese American Racial Inheritance, The Celine Archive, and So To Speak. Dr. Shimizu holds a bachelor’s degree in ethnic studies from the University of California, Berkeley, a master of fine arts degree in film directing and production from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. in modern thought and literature from Stanford University.
Sharon Quinsaat, associate professor of sociology and department chair of peace and conflict studies at Grinnell College in Iowa, co-won the 2026 AAAS Book Award in Social Sciences for her first monograph, Insurgent Communities: How Protests Create a Filipino Diaspora (University of Chicago Press, 2024). Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, Dr. Quinsaat studies a wide range of topics, including migrant conservatism, diaspora formation, transnational repression, news frames and discourses on immigration, women’s international nongovernment organizations, coalition-building in the World Trade Organization, and movement against free trade. She is a graduate the University of the Philippines, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in communication research. She holds a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of California, Irvine, and a Ph.D. in sociology with a certificate in cultural studies from the University of Pittsburgh.