"Interior Chinatown" Just Became a Very Weird TV Show (with Charles Yu)

A screenshot from Interior Chinatown, featuring Jimmy O. Yang and Chloe Bennet

In his award-winning novel Interior Chinatown, Charles Yu took a scalpel to television's tropes and stereotypes. Now he explains to us how he managed to turn that book into a brilliant, challenging TV show. Also, contributing host Nivair Gabriel tells us about science in children's books, and what it's like to push for accurate depictions of space in children's publishing. Plus she recommends great books to share with the kids in your life!

References, Links, & Etc.

Charles Yu won the National Book Award for his novel Interior, Chinatown, and then went on to be the showrunner of the Hulu TV series based on it. He’s also the author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and has worked as a writer on several TV shows, including Westworld.

Nivair H. Gabriel is the co-publisher of Scattered Light Press and has edited books for Albert Whitman & Company and Barefoot Books. Here's Nivair on Instagram and Bluesky.

Movies and TV shows mentioned inclulude Kevin Can Fuck Himself, “Wandavision,” and The French Lieutenant’s Woman

The Mercury 13 were a group of women who trained for space flight.

Books mentioned:

A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle)

The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

Interstellar Cinderella (Deborah Underwood & Meg Hunt)

Astronaut Training (Aneta Cruz & Olivia Aserr)

Listening to the Stars: Jocelyn Bell Burnell Discovers Pulsars (Jodie Parachini & Alexandra Badiu

Jillian vs Parasite Planet (Nicole Kornher-Stace)

Abby in Orbit series (Andrea J. Loney & Fuuji Takashi/Wendy Tan)

Blast Off!