R. O. Kwon

R. O. Kwon
Kwon in 2019
Born	Okyong Kwon Seoul, South Korea
Education	Yale University Brooklyn College (MFA)
Years active	2017–present
Website
ro-kwon.com

R. O. Kwon, also known as Reese Okyong Kwon, is a South Korean and 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, 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]

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.

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]

• Official website