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R. O. Kwon

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R. O. Kwon
Kwon in 2019
Kwon in 2019
BornOkyong Kwon
Seoul, South Korea
Education
Years active2017–present
Website
ro-kwon.com
Korean name
Hangul
권오경[1]
Revised RomanizationGwon Ogyeong
McCune–ReischauerKwŏn Okyŏng

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]

Early life

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Kwon was born in Seoul, South Korea, and moved to Los Angeles, California, with her family when she was three years old.[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 degree from Brooklyn College.[6]

Career

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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 more than 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] the Los Angeles Times First Book Prize,[27] and the 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 that Kwon co-edited with Garth Greenwell, was released in 2021. Her second novel, Exhibit, was published in 2024.

Personal life

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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, California, and "the long-term plan is to be here until climate change chases us out".[3]

References

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  1. ^ "R. O. Kwon in Twitter".
  2. ^ "The Indie Bestseller List". Authorlink. August 7, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Weir, Keziah (May 9, 2024). "R.O. Kwon Is Writing Into Desire". Vanity Fair. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  4. ^ Kwon, R.O. (August 23, 2018). "The Mistake I Made at 'Crazy Rich Asians'". A Cup Of Jo. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  5. ^ Han, Jimin (June 6, 2018). "Interview with R.O. Kwon, Author of The Incendiaries". Retrieved November 10, 2018.
  6. ^ Thomas, Monet Patrice (July 18, 2018). "We're All Unreliable Narrators: Talking with R.O. Kwon". The Rumpus. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  7. ^ Kwon, R. O. (March 23, 2019). "Opinion | Stop Calling Asian Women Adorable". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  8. ^ Kwon, R. O. (June 29, 2017). "Blind Spot by Teju Cole review – a writer's photographs". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  9. ^ Kwon, R. O. (January 7, 2019). "On Being a Woman in America While Trying to Avoid Being Assaulted". The Paris Review. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  10. ^ Kwon, R.O. (February 16, 2018). "I'm Korean American, And I Can't Watch The Pyeongchang Olympics". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  11. ^ Kwon, R. O. (September 25, 2017). "The Clown from 'IT' Reminded Me of God, and I Loved Him". Vice. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  12. ^ Kwon, R. O. (April 6, 2018). "Why I Don't Leave the House Without Putting on Black Eye Shadow". The Cut.
  13. ^ "R. O. Kwon". NEA. May 30, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  14. ^ "Writers". Yaddo. September 11, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  15. ^ "2017 MacDowell Fellows Announced". PublishersWeekly.com. September 14, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  16. ^ Fassler, Joe (July 24, 2018). "A Writer's Fixation on Sound". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  17. ^ Beckley, Sarah (July 31, 2018). "Novelist R.O. Kwon on Losing Her Religion". elle.com. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  18. ^ Winnette, Colin (July 24, 2018). "Grief That Drives: R.O. Kwon by Colin Winnette - BOMB Magazine". bombmagazine.org. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  19. ^ "The Incendiaries by R. O. Kwon | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  20. ^ ""At the Center": Interview with R.O. Kwon". Indiana Review. March 2, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  21. ^ "Foreign Editions". R.O. Kwon. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  22. ^ de León, Concepción (June 9, 2018). "4 Writers to Watch This Summer". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  23. ^ Button, Liz (July 16, 2018). "A Q&A With R.O. Kwon, Author of August's #1 Indie Next List Pick". the American Booksellers Association. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  24. ^ "Indies Introduce Summer Fall 2018". the American Booksellers Association. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  25. ^ "Housatonic Book Awards". Housatonic Book Awards. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  26. ^ "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 December 29, 2018.
  27. ^ Schaub, Michael (February 20, 2019). "L.A. Times Book Prize finalists include Michelle Obama and Susan Orlean; Terry Tempest Williams receives lifetime achievement award". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  28. ^ "Book Awards". Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  29. ^ "Andrew Carnegie Medals Longlist | Awards & Grants". www.ala.org. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  30. ^ Mayer, Petra (November 19, 2018). "Exclusive: 'Friday Black,' 'There There' And More Longlisted For Aspen Words Prize". NPR.org. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  31. ^ Kwon, R. O.; Greenwell, Garth (February 9, 2021). Kink. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-1021-5.
  32. ^ Rich, Kaelyn (November 9, 2018). "Korean-American Bestselling Author R.O. Kwon Is Bisexual, Has Flawless Signature Eyeshadow". Autostraddle. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
  33. ^ Ho, Olivia (September 25, 2018). "Writer R. O. Kwon putting her anguish into words". The Straits Times. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
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