NEA Big Read 2023
NEA Big Read: Identity Politics and the Asian American Writer with Elizabeth Joseph
Three Sessions Tuesdays, 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT March 21 to May 16, 2023
Online via Zoom
This reading group has reached its capacity. To join the waitlist, please email Sam Lim-Kimberg at [email protected].
Participants will have a complimentary copy of Interior Chinatown mailed to them. Please include your mailing address in the Notes field at checkout. The remaining titles are available for purchase from our Bookstore at the links below.
Meeting Details:
3/21, 4/25, 5/16
Online via Zoom
The dualities and intersectionalities of the Asian American identities derive from numerous inherited and inherent expectations. Moreover, the label of model minority in a racialized and hierarchical society further complicates things. What does it mean to be a hyphenated American? How does one become visible and not seen as other? Delve into the stories of selected Asian American writers as they explore and navigate the tumult in an effort to confront their past and present to forge their identity as Asian Americans.
- Session I: Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So
- Session II: America Is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo
- Session III: Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Led by
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Elizabeth Joseph
Elizabeth Joseph
Elizabeth Joseph is the Assistant Director of the New Rochelle Public Library. She has served on several book jury panels including Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and Non Fiction as well as the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. She is a proud member of the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association.
About this series
NEA Big Read 2023
The Center for Fiction’s 2023 Big Read initiative focuses on Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu, winner of the National Book Award. Our free multidisciplinary public programming includes discussion groups and public events with authors, musicians, and scholars. The Center also connected with younger readers and writers through our signature KidsRead / KidsWrite programming, hosting a teen storyteller contest and offering programs featuring books suitable for younger readers that engage with similar themes.