R. O. Kwon
R. O. Kwon | |
---|---|
![]() Kwon in 2019 | |
Born | Okyong Kwon Seoul, South Korea |
Education | |
Years active | 2017–present |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 권오경[1] |
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Revised Romanization | Gwon Ogyeong |
McCune–Reischauer | Kwŏn 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
[edit]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]
Career
[edit]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.
Personal life
[edit]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]
References
[edit]- ^ "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.
External links
[edit]- 21st-century American novelists
- Living people
- 21st-century American women writers
- Brooklyn College alumni
- Yale University alumni
- South Korean LGBT novelists
- American LGBT people of Asian descent
- American LGBT novelists
- Bisexual women writers
- Bisexual novelists
- American writers of Korean descent
- Writers from Seoul
- South Korean emigrants to the United States
- American bisexual writers
- South Korean bisexual people
- 21st-century South Korean LGBT people