Go Away With … Crystal Hana Kim

“I grew up traveling to Korea often,” says author Crystal Hana Kim. “My parents are both immigrants from Korea and my mother’s side of the family still lives there. She’d take me and my little sister back during our summer breaks to visit our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. All of those summers in Korea helped me to develop a deep love for my culture. When I began writing my novel during graduate school, I visited Korea specifically to do research. ‘If You Leave Me’ is about five characters growing up during and after the Korean War.”

Go Away With … Min Jin Lee

New York Times best-selling author Min Jin Lee spent four years in Japan doing research on her sweeping novel, “Pachinko” (Grand Central Publishing, $27), which was a National Book Award finalist. The time spent overseas provided valuable insight for the New Yorker, who “was based in Tokyo, but I traveled often to Kyoto and Osaka. I had to research Osaka extensively, because so much of ‘Pachinko’ was set there.”

Go Away With … Samuel Park

Born in Sao Paulo to Korean parents, author Samuel Park is a dual citizen of Brazil and the United States. “I left Brazil at age 14 (for Los Angeles), so my Portuguese is pretty fluent, even though I don’t have any Portuguese-speaking friends,” says Park, 36. “But I watch Brazilian soaps obsessively every day! So I can understand the language as well as I did 20 years ago. My Korean, incidentally, is quite weak, and much worse than my Portuguese.”

Go Away With … Kambri Crews

When bill collectors called the Crews house, they talked to Kambri, the hearing child of deaf parents. Today, Kambri Crews, a 40-year-old author, having watched her charismatic father beat her mother, tells her compelling life story filled with love, hope and fear, in her thoughtful and sly memoir “Burn Down the Ground” (Villard, $25). One of the more unique places that Crews travels to is the Texas prison where her father is serving a 20-year sentence for the attempted murder of a girlfriend.

Go Away With … Kyung-sook Shin

With multiple best-selling books under the belt, Kyung-sook Shin has rock star status in her native South Korea. Now the 48-year-old author is ready to enter the international market with her latest book, “Please Look After Mom” (Knopf, $24.95). The touching novel — about a family that doesn’t appreciate their mother until after she has mysteriously disappeared — sold more than a million copies in Korea. It has since been released in more than 20 countries and debuted May 1 at number 14 on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

Go Away With … Scott Simon

Scott Simon, National Public Radio host and author, chose a subject close to home for his latest book, “Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption” (Random House, $22). He and his French wife, former film producer Caroline Richard, have adopted two daughters from China and his poignant and witty memoir speaks not only of their family’s experiences, but also those of other adoptive parents, such as “Freakonomics” author Steven Levitt. Simon, 58, resides on the East Coast with Richard and their daughters Elise and Lina. Currently on a nationwide book tour, Simon’s tour dates are available on his website (www.scottsimonbooks.com).

Go Away With … Ginger Rue

For children’s author Ginger Rue, the best trips are the ones where she can spend time with her two young children. Based in Northport, Ala., Rue, 39, says the best vacation memory she has is of “seeing the unadulterated joy on my daughters’ faces when we took them to Disney World. I’ll always treasure that.” As for the worst? “When my younger daughter got a stomach bug during a car trip to Dallas,” she recalls. Rue’s latest book “Jump” (Tricycle Press, $15.99) chronicles the life of a high school Mean Girl who develops some empathy when she unexpectedly jumps into the bodies of some of the kids she has bullied. “Jump” hits stores on Sept. 14.