photo by: Lawrence Public Library

The Lawrence Public Library has announced that this year’s Read Across Lawrence book is Charles Yu’s “Interior Chinatown,” a bestselling novel that also won the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction, among other literary prizes.

Read Across Lawrence is an annual program similar to KU’s Common Book program, with the goal of getting community members to all engage with the same book.

“When we read the same story together, we can focus on the similarities of our human experience. It endears us to each other, builds empathy, and ultimately a stronger community,” said Brad Allen, the library’s executive director.

“Interior Chinatown,” written in the form of a screenplay, is a Hollywood satire that explores various stereotypes about Asian Americans.

The library makes the book widely available to the public, including some giveaways on Facebook and Instagram, and will also host related programming throughout April, including an evening with the author via Zoom at 7 p.m. on April 21.

Yu is the author of four books, including “Interior Chinatown” and the novel “How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe,” which was a New York Times Notable Book and a Time magazine best book of the year. He was nominated for two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the HBO series “Westworld.”

In recent years, the Read Across Lawrence program also included selections for children and teens, but this year the program shifted back to having a single selection for adults. The Summer Reading Challenge now serves as the library’s youth-focused literacy initiative, the library said in a news release.

Past selections for Read Across Lawrence have included:

2020: “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich

2019: “Sourdough” by Robin Sloan

2018: “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio

2017: “In the Time of the Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez

2016: “The Martian” by Andy Weir

2015: “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

2014: “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson

2013: “The Worst Hard Time” by Timothy Egan

2012: “Winter’s Bone” by Daniel Woodrell

2011: “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee