Charles Yu Explained

Charles Yu
Birth Name:Charles Chowkai Yu
Birth Date:3 January 1976
Birth Place:Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genre:novel, literary fiction, science fiction, experimental fiction, non-fiction
Notableworks:How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (2010)
Interior Chinatown (2020)
Awards:National Book Award for Fiction (2020) (for Interior Chinatown)
Robert Olen Butler Prize
Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award
Alma Mater:UC Berkeley (BS)
Columbia University Law School (JD)
Module:
Child:yes
T:遊朝凱
S:游朝凯
P:Yóu Cháokǎi
W:Yu Chowkai

Charles Chowkai Yu (born January 3, 1976) is an American writer. He is the author of the novels How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe and Interior Chinatown, as well as the short-story collections Third Class Superhero and Sorry Please Thank You. In 2007 he was named a "5 under 35" honoree by the National Book Foundation.[1] In 2020, Interior Chinatown won the National Book Award for fiction.[2]

Personal life

Yu's parents emigrated to the United States from Taiwan. He mentioned that besides drawing from his own life in writing Interior Chinatown, he also knew that he wanted to write about this certain experience of his parents as immigrants, during which time his kids were also growing up.[3]

Yu graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1997, majoring and receiving a Bachelor of Arts in molecular and cellular biology and a minor in creative writing[4], where he "wrote poetry, not fiction"[5] and also "took several poetry workshops with people like Thom Gunn and Ishmael Reed".[6]

He obtained his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.[7] He has worked as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell, as a corporate attorney in Bryan Cave, became the Director of Business Affairs at Digital Domain and worked as an associate general counsel at Belkin International, before finally becoming a full-time fiction and TV writer.

He lives near Irvine, California with his wife, Michelle Jue and their two children, Sophia and Dylan.[8] His brother is the actor and TV writer Kelvin Yu.[9]

Writing

In 2007, Yu was selected by the National Book Foundation as one of its "5 Under 35", a program which highlights the work of the next generation of fiction writers by asking five previous National Book Award fiction Winners and Finalists to select one fiction writer under the age of 35 whose work they find particularly promising and exciting. Yu was selected for the honor by Richard Powers.[1]

In 2021, Yu established the Betty L. Yu and Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes in collaboration with TaiwaneseAmerican.org.[10] [11]

Short stories

His fiction was cited for special mention in the Pushcart Prize Anthology XXVIII, specifically "Problems for Self-Study" published in the Harvard Review.[12]

Yu also received the 2004 Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award from the Mid-American Review for his story, "Third Class Superhero".[13]

As for editing anthologies, Yu served as the Guest Editor for the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017 from The Best American Series and the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.[14]

Novels

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

See main article: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. His first novel, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, was published and released in 2010 and was ranked that year's second-best science fiction novel by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas — and a runner up for the Campbell Memorial Award. The book was also optioned by film director and writer Chris Columbus' production company, 1492 Pictures.[15] [16] The novel was further listed in Time magazine's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2010, The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2010, and was one of Amazon.com's Top 10 SF/F Books for 2010.

Interior Chinatown

See main article: Interior Chinatown. In 2020, Yu released his second novel, Interior Chinatown, which uses the screenplay format to tell the tale of Willis Wu, the "Generic Asian Man" who is stuck playing "Background Oriental Male" and occasionally "Delivery Guy" in the fictional police procedural Black and White but who longs to be "Kung Fu Guy" on screens worldwide.[17] On January 27, 2020, Yu appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to discuss the book, as well as the lack of on-screen representation for Asian Americans and the Asian American "model minority myth".[18] Yu further appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition with Scott Simon, January 25, 2020,[19] and on the Los Angeles Review of Books Radio Hour with Medaya Ocher and Kate Wolf on February 3, 2020[20] to further discuss the novel.

Interior Chinatown won the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction[2] and after being announced as a finalist,[21] made the longlist of the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction[22] and was a finalist for the 2020 Prix Médicis étranger.[23]

In an interview with Timothy Tau for Hyphen, Yu remarked that his influences for the novel included Paul Beatty's Man Booker Prize-winning novel The Sellout as well as the "cyclical structure" of the film Groundhog Day.[24]

Screenplays and TV writing

In 2016, Yu was a story editor for ten episodes of the first season of the 2016 HBO series Westworld, and co-wrote the episode "Trace Decay". For his work on the show, he received two Writers Guild of America Award nominations in 2017: Drama Series and New Series.[25] In 2023, Taika Waititi announced Yu was working on the screenplay for his planned adaptation of Akira.[26]

Other writing

Yu's non-fiction, essays, book reviews, journalism and other writing have also appeared online and in print in The Atlantic ("The Pre-pandemic Universe Was the Fiction"), Slate (various reviews and articles on video games such as L.A. Noire and Portal 2), The Wall Street Journal ("Novelist Charles Yu on St. George California Reserve Agricole Rum"), Time ("What It's Like to Never Ever See Yourself on TV"), The Offing ("Thirteen Ways of Looking at 45" about the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump), The New York Times Style Magazine ("George R. R. Martin, Fantasy's Reigning King"), McSweeney's Internet Tendency ("What Kind of World Is This?"), The Morning News ("Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar", a review) and Polygon ("What future artificial intelligence will think of our puny human video games").

He is interviewed by and also interviews Lev Grossman in The Believer[27] and comments on the work of Philip Roth (stating that he has "read more books by Roth than probably any other contemporary writer"), Don DeLillo, and Jonathan Lethem in installments of the "Influenced by" series published by Jaime Clarke in The Believer as well.[28] [29] [30] [31]

He has also written reviews in The New York Times Book Review of books (novels and short story collections) from Neal Stephenson, Joe Hill, Jasper Fforde and John Wray.[32] [33] [34] [35] [36]

Awards and accolades

Bibliography

Novels

Short story collections

Uncollected short stories

Non-fiction

Essays

Book reviews

Teleplays

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 5 Under 35 2007 . 2022-07-21 . National Book Foundation . en-US.
  2. News: Alter. Alexandra. 2020-11-19. Charles Yu Wins National Book Award for 'Interior Chinatown'. en-US. The New York Times. 2020-11-19. 0362-4331.
  3. Web site: Ansari . Aleenah . 2022-02-08 . Charles Yu on identity, representation and what it means to be Asian American . https://web.archive.org/web/20220819035233/https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/charles-yu-on-identity-representation-and-what-it-means-to-be-asian-american/ . 2022-08-19 . 2022-08-19 . The Seattle Times . en-US.
  4. Web site: Alumni Profile: Charles Yu English . 2024-08-02 . english.berkeley.edu.
  5. Web site: Mitchell . Shawn Andrew . 2013-05-06 . Fashionable Nonsense and a Better Brain: Part One of an Interview with Charles Yu . 2020-11-19 . Fiction Writers Review.
  6. Web site: Birnbaum . Robert . Charles Yu . 2020-11-19 . The Morning News.
  7. Charles Yu, LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesyu
  8. Web site: 2020-01-28 . Ten Questions for Charles Yu . 2020-07-14 . . en.
  9. Web site: 2017-09-20 . Kelvin Yu wins an Emmy for work on animated TV series - Taipei Times . 2022-07-21 . www.taipeitimes.com.
  10. Web site: Locus Magazine . 2021-02-22 . Charles Yu Establishes Taiwanese American Creative Writing Prize . 2022-08-19 . Locus Online . en-US.
  11. Web site: 2021-02-25 . National Book Award winner Charles Yu discusses his new prize for Taiwanese American writers . 2022-08-19 . Orange County Register . en-US.
  12. Book: Henderson, Bill . Pushcart Prize XXVIII, 2004: Best of the Small Presses . 2004 . Pushcart Press . 978-1-888889-36-9 . en.
  13. Web site: Charles Yu Penguin Random House . 2022-07-21 . PenguinRandomhouse.com . en-US.
  14. Web site: Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017 – John Joseph Adams . 2022-07-21 . www.johnjosephadams.com.
  15. Web site: Miller . Daniel . 2011-12-02 . Chris Columbus' Production Company Acquires Sci-Fi Novel (Exclusive) . 2022-07-21 . The Hollywood Reporter . en-US.
  16. [Charlie Jane Anders]
  17. Carolyn Kellog, The Washington Post, Charles Yu's ‘Interior Chinatown’ brilliantly skewers Hollywood typecasting, https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/charles-yus-interior-chinatown-brilliantly-skewers-hollywood-typecasting/2020/01/27/4d04be48-3711-11ea-bf30-ad313e4ec754_story.html
  18. Web site: The Daily Show with Trevor Noah – Charles Yu – Tackling On-Screen Asian Representation With "Interior Chinatown" – Extended Interview. https://web.archive.org/web/20200131041329/http://www.cc.com/video-clips/p4msgk/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-charles-yu---tackling-on-screen-asian-representation-with--interior-chinatown----extended-interview. dead. January 31, 2020. January 27, 2020. Comedy Central. Comedy Partners. May 4, 2020.
  19. News: 'Interior Chinatown' Puts That Guy In The Background Front And Center . en . NPR.org . 2022-07-21.
  20. Web site: 2020-02-03 . Los Angeles Review of Books . 2022-07-21 . Los Angeles Review of Books . en.
  21. Web site: October 6, 2020 . 2020 National Book Awards Finalists Announced . October 28, 2020 . National Book Foundation.
  22. Web site: JCARMICHAEL . 2020-10-18 . 2021 Winners . 2022-07-21 . Reference & User Services Association (RUSA) . en.
  23. Web site: Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu: 9780307948472 PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books . 2022-07-21 . PenguinRandomhouse.com . en-US.
  24. Timothy Tau, INTERIOR CHINATOWN WINS NATIONAL BOOK AWARD: Q&A with Charles Yu, Hyphen Magazine, https://hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2020/11/interior-chinatown-wins-national-book-award
  25. Web site: 2017 Writers Guild Awards Television, New Media, News, Radio, & Promotional Writing Nominations Announced . 2022-07-21 . www.wga.org . en.
  26. Web site: Bui . Hoai-Tran . Taika Waititi Confirms He's Not Directing 'Thor 5' — But Chris Hemsworth is in Talks for Return . Inverse . BDG Media, Inc. . 29 July 2024 . en . 14 November 2023.
  27. Web site: admin_bm . 2015-07-01 . Conversation from the Shadow Lands. An Interview with Charles Yu . 2024-08-02 . Believer Magazine . en-US.
  28. Entire Collection of all "Influenced By" Believer posts, https://www.newtonvillebooks.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BELIEVER.pdf
  29. Web site: INFLUENCED BY . 2022-07-21 . Believer Magazine . en-US.
  30. Jaime Clarke, Believer Magazine, L, Influenced by (where Yu discusses Jonathan Lethem), https://jameson-zimmer.squarespace.com/post/2015/02/03/influenced-by-9
  31. Jaime Clarke, Believer Magazine, R, Influenced by (where Yu discusses Philip Roth and states "I've read more books by Roth than probably any other contemporary writer"), https://jameson-zimmer.squarespace.com/post?offset=1423520640000
  32. News: Yu . Charles . 2019-06-14 . Neal Stephenson's New Novel — Part Tech, Part Fantasy — Dazzles . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-21 . 0362-4331.
  33. News: Yu . Charles . 2015-05-27 . 'Seveneves,' by Neal Stephenson . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-21 . 0362-4331.
  34. News: Yu . Charles . 2019-10-01 . Short Stories From Joe Hill, Spiked With Mayhem and Evil . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-21 . 0362-4331.
  35. News: Yu . Charles . 2019-02-28 . A Brilliantly Funny and Slightly Bonkers New Novel From Jasper Fforde . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-21 . 0362-4331.
  36. News: Yu . Charles . 2016-02-19 . 'The Lost Time Accidents,' by John Wray . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-21 . 0362-4331.
  37. http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/campbell.htm "The John W. Campbell Memorial Award"
  38. Web site: Book Marks reviews of Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. Book Marks. en-US. 2020-01-31.
  39. Web site: Volume XXV, No. 2 – Mid-American Review . 2022-07-21 . en-US.
  40. Web site: Noble . Barnes & . The 2004 Robert Olen Butler Prize StoriesPaperback . 2022-07-21 . Barnes & Noble . en.
  41. Web site: Charles Yu – Harvard Review . 2022-07-21 . harvardreview.org.
  42. Web site: 10 Questions for Charles Yu Mass Review . 2022-07-21 . massreview.org.

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