Atlanta to read and celebrate Interior Chinatown From September 2024 to June 2025

The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read program provides us the opportunity to learn and take inspiration from literature together. Our team carefully selects a book to focus on for the year, and we have copies available year-round. These thought-provoking works inspire artistic responses from students in our In-School Residencies, and from professional artists in various formats, including our recurring Curious Encounters series. Events take place around metro Atlanta, ensuring diverse participation and distribution of complimentary books will take place at all of the events.

Charles Yu’s critically acclaimed novel Interior Chinatown tells the story of Willis Wu, who has only ever been cast as the Generic Asian Man. Consigned to bit roles in the background of a procedural cop show, he dreams of playing Kung Fu Guy, the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain—or so he has always been told.

By diving into Interior Chinatown, we can address representation of Asians on screen and the reduction of the identities of people of color to stereotypes, inviting the theatrical community to examine our commitment to diversity and inclusion. As global citizens, we’re tied together by a search for identity and preservation of culture in a world that is actively fighting against just that.

Want to get involved with 7 Stages and The Big Read?

Email us for a free book and to learn more about the program!

Since 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts has funded more than 1,800 NEA Big Read programs, providing more than $25 million to organizations nationwide. In addition, NEA Big Read activities have reached every Congressional district in the country. Over the past 15+ years, grantees have leveraged more than $57 million in local funding to support their NEA Big Read programs. More than 6 million Americans have attended an NEA Big Read event, over 100,000 volunteers have participated at the local level, and over 40,000 community organizations have partnered to make NEA Big Read activities possible. For more information about the NEA Big Read, including book and author information, podcasts, and videos, visit arts.gov/neabigread.

Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. Visit arts.gov to learn more.

Arts Midwest supports, informs, and celebrates Midwestern creativity. We build community and opportunity across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, the Native Nations that share this geography, and beyond. As one of six nonprofit United States Regional Arts Organizations, Arts Midwest works to strengthen local arts and culture efforts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, state agencies, private funders, and many others. Learn more at artsmidwest.org.

Major funding for this organization is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, and Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. Georgia Council for the Arts is funded in part through partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how NEA grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov