But in my book he does have a name and his name is Willis Wu,' he said. And I wanted to tell a story about that guy - van guy who doesn't usually get a lot of lines and doesn't usually have a name. And they're in the foreground and way in the back, almost out of focus is an Asian guy unloading a van. 'We've all seen 'Law and Order.' Every few seasons it seems they have a special episode set in Chinatown and you've got the two leads and they're cops and they're discussing the case. And I wanted to tell a good story that I hope is also entertaining.'Ĭurious what 'Interior Chinatown' is about? Yu has come up with an elevator pitch for the novel: but I wanted to at the same time have a different kind of approach. I certainly think there are very important, weighty ways to write about race.

They see questions about immigration and questions about race and ethnicity as well. 'They have questions around their identity both in terms of where do their families come from, but also are they real Americans?' Yu told WPR's ' BETA'. Yu has two children who are 'reaching an age where they can ask questions' and 'talk about things with classmates.' Yu's parents are immigrants from Taiwan who have lived over two-thirds of their lives in the United States as naturalized citizens.

Yu has also worked as a writer for the FX series, ' Legion' and the HBO series ' Westworld.' This experience in television likely came in handy for ' Interior Chinatown' - structured like a television script, the novel explores racism through the lens of the TV cameras that shoot the show.

Charles yu interior chinatown