American novelist
R. O. Kwon
Kwon in 2019
Born Okyong KwonSeoul , South Korea Education Years active 2017–present
R. O. Kwon , also known as Reese Okyong Kwon , is a South Korean–born American author. In 2018, she published her nationally bestselling[2] debut novel The Incendiaries with Riverhead Books , an imprint of Penguin Random House. Her second novel, Exhibit , was published in 2024 with Riverhead Books .[3]
Kwon was born in Seoul , South Korea, and moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was three.[4] She was raised in a Christian household but at the age of 17 experienced a crisis of faith and stopped believing in God.
She attended Yale University .[5] She has a Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College .[6]
Kwon's work has appeared in publications including The New York Times ,[7] The Guardian ,[8] The Paris Review ,[9] BuzzFeed ,[10] Vice ,[11] New York Magazine's The Cut ,[12] and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts ,[13] Yaddo ,[14] and MacDowell .[15]
In 2018, Kwon published her debut novel, The Incendiaries , about a woman who becomes involved with a cult of extremist Christians. The novel was inspired by Kwon's own loss of faith in God, and took 10 years to finish.[16] [17] [18] The Incendiaries was named a best book of the year by over 40 publications and organizations,[19] [20] including the Today Show , NPR , BuzzFeed , The Atlantic , PBS Books, Entertainment Weekly , Vulture , and elsewhere, and is being translated into seven languages.[21] Before the book's release, Kwon was called one of "4 writers to watch" by The New York Times .[22] The Incendiaries is an American Booksellers Association Indie Next #1 Great Read[23] and an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce Pick.[24] The novel received the Housatonic Book Prize,[25] and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award for Best First Book,[26] Los Angeles Times First Book Prize,[27] and Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Fiction Prize.[28] In addition, the book has been nominated for the American Library Association Carnegie Medal[29] and Aspen Prize.[30]
Kink ,[31] a nationally bestselling anthology Kwon co-edited with Garth Greenwell , was released in 2021. Her second novel, Exhibit , was published in 2024.
In November 2018 Kwon revealed that she is bisexual.[32] The initials in her name stand for Reese, her English name, and Okyong, her Korean name. She publishes as R. O. Kwon.[33] Kwon lives in San Francisco and “the long-term plan is to be here until climate change chases us out”.[3]
^ "R. O. Kwon in Twitter" .
^ "The Indie Bestseller List" . Authorlink . Retrieved 2018-12-06 .
^ a b Weir, Keziah (2024-05-09). "R.O. Kwon Is Writing Into Desire" . Vanity Fair . Retrieved 2024-05-19 .
^ Kwon, R.O. (23 August 2018). "The Mistake I Made at 'Crazy Rich Asians' " . A Cup Of Jo . Retrieved 12 December 2018 .
^ Han, Jimin (6 June 2018). "Interview with R.O. Kwon, Author of The Incendiaries" . Retrieved 10 November 2018 .
^ Thomas, Monet Patrice (18 July 2018). "We're All Unreliable Narrators: Talking with R.O. Kwon" . The Rumpus . Retrieved 27 July 2019 .
^ Kwon, R. O. (2019-03-23). "Opinion | Stop Calling Asian Women Adorable" . The New York Times . ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-04-06 .
^ Kwon, R. O. (2017-06-29). "Blind Spot by Teju Cole review – a writer's photographs" . The Guardian . ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2018-12-06 .
^ Kwon, R. O. (2019-01-07). "On Being a Woman in America While Trying to Avoid Being Assaulted" . The Paris Review . Retrieved 2019-03-16 .
^ Kwon, R.O. "I'm Korean American, And I Can't Watch The Pyeongchang Olympics" . BuzzFeed News . Retrieved 2018-12-06 .
^ Kwon, R. O. (2017-09-25). "The Clown from 'IT' Reminded Me of God, and I Loved Him" . Vice . Retrieved 2018-12-06 .
^ Kwon, R.O. (6 April 2018). " "Why I Always Wear Black Eyeshadow" " . The Cut .
^ "R. O. Kwon" . NEA . 2018-05-30. Retrieved 2018-12-06 .
^ "Writers" . Yaddo . 2016-09-11. Retrieved 2018-12-06 .
^ "2017 MacDowell Fellows Announced" . PublishersWeekly.com . Retrieved 2018-12-06 .
^ Fassler, Joe (24 July 2018). "A Writer's Fixation on Sound" . The Atlantic . Retrieved 16 October 2018 .
^ Beckley, Sarah (31 July 2018). "Novelist R.O. Kwon on Losing Her Religion" . Retrieved 16 October 2018 .
^ Winnette, Colin. "Grief That Drives: R.O. Kwon by Colin Winnette - BOMB Magazine" . bombmagazine.org . Retrieved 2018-12-06 .
^ "The Incendiaries by R. O. Kwon | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books" . PenguinRandomhouse.com . Retrieved 2019-03-16 .
^ " "At the Center": Interview with R.O. Kwon" . Indiana Review . 2019-03-02. Retrieved 2019-03-16 .
^ "Foreign Editions" . R.O. Kwon . Retrieved 2020-01-27 .
^ de León, Concepción (2018-06-09). "4 Writers to Watch This Summer" . The New York Times . ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-12-06 .
^ Button, Liz (2018-07-16). "A Q&A With R.O. Kwon, Author of August's #1 Indie Next List Pick" . the American Booksellers Association . Retrieved 2018-12-06 .
^ "Indies Introduce Summer Fall 2018" . the American Booksellers Association . Retrieved 2018-12-29 .
^ "Housatonic Book Awards" . Housatonic Book Awards . Retrieved 2020-01-27 .
^ "National Book Critics Circle: Announcing the Finalists for the John Leonard Award for Best First Book - Critical Mass Blog" . www.bookcritics.org . Archived from the original on December 12, 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-29 .
^ Schaub, Michael (20 February 2019). "L.A. Times Book Prize finalists include Michelle Obama and Susan Orlean; Terry Tempest Williams receives lifetime achievement award" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2019-03-16 .
^ "Book Awards" . Northern California Independent Booksellers Association . Archived from the original on 2019-11-11. Retrieved 2019-03-16 .
^ "Andrew Carnegie Medals Longlist | Awards & Grants" . www.ala.org . Retrieved 2018-12-29 .
^ Mayer, Petra (19 November 2018). "Exclusive: 'Friday Black,' 'There There' And More Longlisted For Aspen Words Prize" . NPR.org . Retrieved 2018-12-29 .
^ Kwon, R. O.; Greenwell, Garth (2021-02-09). Kink . ISBN 978-1-9821-1021-5 .
^ Rich, Kaelyn (9 November 2018). "Korean-American Bestselling Author R.O. Kwon Is Bisexual, Has Flawless Signature Eyeshadow" . Autostraddle . Retrieved 10 November 2018 .
^ Ho, Olivia (25 September 2018). "Writer R. O. Kwon putting her anguish into words" . The Straits Times . Retrieved 18 January 2020 .