NüVoices

This week, NüVoices podcast host Stephanie Tam interviews Lillian Li, the author of the new novel Bad Asians, which was released in February 2026. Lillian is also the author of Number One Chinese Restaurant which was selected as an NPR Best Book and longlisted for the Women’s Prize and the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. 

In this episode, Lillian discusses writing fanfiction as a teen, writing about friendships and finding unique perspectives in Asian American literature. 

This week the Nüvoices podcasting team is thrilled to share a special crossover podcast episode from The Polycrisis. 

Our Nüvoices podcast interview with Kate McKenzie, co-founder of The Polycrisis, an independent publication, newsletter, and podcast, aired on June 2, 2026, and can be found here. 

Stay tuned for new Nüvoices episodes next month as we start our fall season.

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Learn more about this episode of The Polycrisis, originally aired on April 15, 2026, here. 

A key theme of our first podcast series is that China's world-changing production of clean energy and electrification tech had little to do with solving climate change or even being seen as a leader in climate diplomacy. Instead, it's mostly a byproduct of the country's economic strategy and quest for energy independence.

But the US has also played a big role in China's strategy. The two countries were in a pro-globalisation, free-trade partnership back in 2001 when China joined the WTO; but the global financial crisis, the US shale boom, and increasing hawkishness from US administrations of both sides were all factors in the central Chinese government's decisions to become a high end electrotech manufacturer, and to ramp up its energy security with clean and local power.

Subscribe to the podcast: Apple; Spotify; all platform links.

Featured this episode:

 
Jessica Chen Weiss  - Professor of China Studies and the faculty director of the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.

Jake Werner - Director of the East Asia Program, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

Hosted by Tim Sahay and Kate Mackenzie

Produced by Sarah Allely

Original music by Russell Stapleton

Mixed by Bethany Stewart

Contact us at: polycrisispodcast (at) gmail.com OR the.polycrisis (at) gmail.com

This week, NüVoices podcast cohost Chenni Xu interviews M Lin, author of the recent short story debut, Memory Museum, out everywhere where books are sold. Chenni met M at her NY book tour stop at McNally Jackson Seaport where she read to a packed audience of friends, family, and new fans.

The Beijing-born, US-based writer joins NüVoices Chair Chenni Xu to discuss how distance (from home, from language, from certainty) became the engine of her fiction. They also get into writing characters whose lives look nothing like your own, what "daughter" and "mother" mean for Chinese women today, and writing techniques.

This week, our host Solarina Ho is joined by writer, podcaster and consultant Kate McKenzie to discuss the business of climate change amid geopolitical competition and the global energy transition.

In this episode, Kate McKenzie shares her insights into the latest trend of climate collaboration, renewable energy development, and how we could save our planet at a time of geopolitical uncertainty.

This week, we have host and Chair of NuVoices, Chenni Xu, discussing AI competition between US and China, technonationalism, writing and craft, with journalist and researcher Selina Xu (no relation).

In this episode, Selina Xu discusses her views on the current AI competition, areas of cooperation, why Americans and Chinese view technology differently, her thesis on sinofuturism, and thoughts on writing non-fiction and fiction, including speculative fiction.

This week, hosts Solarina Ho and Rui Zhong speak with Yangyang Cheng, a Research Scholar at Yale’s School of Law focusing on science and technology development in China and US-China relations. 

In this episode, Solarina, Rui, and Yangyang speak on the struggles of scientists in the current political climate, the place of women in the intersection of politics and science, and China’s history and future in the geopolitical landscape. They also discuss Yangyang’s career as a researcher, writer, and academic, and delve into her tips for aspiring writers. 

As a bonus episode series for the NüVoices podcast, we have invited three winners of our 2025 NüStories personal essay contest to read out their essays. In this episode, you will hear from Chris Yitao Shen, who won first place for her essay, "What You Know (And Didn’t Know)."

Chris Yitao Shen is an international student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She’s a junior. She’s a creative writing major. She writes to remember. She writes quietly and deletes all exclamation marks. Her favorite book is Slaughterhouse Five. Not really a nonfiction but as thick. She has written a lot and will keep on writing. 

This week, NüVoices editor and freelance journalist Jessie Lau speaks to Yi-Ling Liu, a writer covering technology and Chinese society, about her debut book “The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet”. 

In this episode, Yi-Ling discusses how communities from the margins navigate censorship on the Chinese internet. She also describes how her own experiences reporting for Chinese and Western media shaped her approach to Wall Dancers, her debut book.

As a bonus episode series for the NüVoices podcast, we have invited three winners of our 2025 NüStories personal essay contest to read out their essays. In this episode, you will hear from Juliette Yu-Ming Lizeray, who won first place for her essay, "You need glasses for Asian faces."

Juliette Yu-Ming Lizeray is a writer and comic artist. She won Singapore’s 2023 Golden Point Award and co-authored two books on the arts in Singapore, "Semionauts of Tradition" and "Reimagining Singapore."

This week, NüVoices host and founder Joanna Chiu joins NüVoices editor and board member Jessie Lau to discuss their exciting new life chapters that extend their vision of NüVoices.

From launching the website of NüVoices in a cafe in Beijing in 2018, to now creating two new initiatives that continue to amplify women’s and BIPOC voices, Joanna and Jessie discuss what drove them to begin this more entrepreneurial chapter of their lives. They also reflect on their China reporting in the past decade and their takeaways for emerging China journalists and professionals.