The University of Pittsburgh's Global Studies Center will host a discussion with novelist Charles Yu on October 14, part of the Center's "Four Evenings" series in collaboration with Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures. Yu will speak as part of the latter's "Ten Evenings" series on October 18.
The author of four books and numerous television scripts, Charles Yu won the 2020 National Book Award for Interior Chinatown, an ambitious satire about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping roles we are forced to play.The "Four Evenings" discussion with Yu will be led by Dr. Kirsten Strayer, Program Coordinator for the University of Pittsburgh's SCREENSHOT: Asia festival. The event starts at 6:00 pm and will be online; registration is required.
Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it?