The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in partnership with Arts Midwest, announced a matching grant of $20,000 to the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County for NEA Big Read programming in 2025. The goal of the NEA Big Read is to inspire meaningful conversations, celebrate local creativity, elevate a wide variety of voices and perspectives, and build stronger connections in communities through the shared experience of reading.
2025 NEA Big Read programming focuses on the theme: Where We Live. Grant funds will support a book giveaway and other programs celebrating Charles Yu’s bestselling novel, "Interior Chinatown." Yu’s book won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2020. The novel follows Willis Wu, a struggling actor pursuing lead roles that he thinks will give him agency and respect — a quest that often exposes him to humiliation and indignity instead of fame and fortune.
“We are so pleased that the National Endowment for the Arts has chosen to favor us, once again, with a generous grant to support our NEA Big Read program. Charles Yu’s novel, 'Interior Chinatown' is a marvelous and wickedly satiric glimpse into the little-known corners of Asian American life and culture that will likely be a real eye-opener for Knox County readers,” Library Director John K. Chidester said.
The Library’s NEA Big Read program begins in February 2025 and continues through May.
NEA Big Read Proposed Activities
- A county-wide book giveaway of "Interior: Chinatown"
- Additional book giveaways of children’s books, YA novels, and companion texts by Asian-American authors
- A special episode of the library’s award-winning "What Are You Reading? Podcast"
- An 8-week Teen MakerSpace arts and crafts series inspired by "Interior Chinatown"
- Children’s storytimes at The Annex
- Creative writing workshops at the Brown Family Environmental Center led by Ira Sukrungruang, Cindy Ok, Jon Tazewell, and Hao Zhou
- Two ekphrastic writing sessions at The Gund Gallery
- Movement workshops exploring Chinese dance and the theme “Where We Live”
- Interactive programs in authentic Chinese culinary and martial arts
- Performances by Jingwei Lion Dance Association of Columbus
