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rokwon.bsky.social
R. O. Kwon 권오경
@rokwon.bsky.social
26K followers 1.3K following 520 posts
📚 nationally bestselling novels Exhibit & The Incendiaries • co-edited Kink • Lambda Literary Duggins Prize • ‘25-‘26 American Library in Paris Visiting Fellow 🌈 she/her

www.ro-kwon.com
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rokwon.bsky.social
five calls makes it easy to call your reps, it takes mere minutes & they provide a script. you can call about ice’s murder of renee nicole good, a fellow writer & poet. you can call about venezuela

apps.apple.com/us/app/5-cal...
text from the app linked, including “stop ice’s aggressive attacks on immigrants & citizens” text from the app linked
January 9, 2026 at 2:52 AM
rokwon.bsky.social
this Friday!! we’re having an info session for The Ministry of Words, our new teaching collective 🌱

if you have any questions for Fatimah Asghar, @ingridrojasc.bsky.social, or me, or if you just want to hear more, please contact us at [email protected] for the session link
The Ministry of Words Info Session 1/9, 5pm PT / 8pm ET poetry & screenwriting, Fatimah Asghar fiction, R. O. Kwon creative nonfiction, Ingrid Rojas Contreras
January 4, 2026 at 9:26 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
wrote about the usefulness of forcing myself to celebrate things! even & perhaps especially when i don’t feel like it

open.substack.com/pub/rokwon/p...
I force myself to celebrate things Or: sometimes I try to inhabit a joy I’m not capable of feeling, & sometimes it helps R. O. Kwon January 2, 2026
January 3, 2026 at 12:44 AM
rokwon.bsky.social
helloo friends we have an update to our teaching collective, The Ministry of Words: we’ve added a screenwriting class ✨

scholarships are available for writers of color & the new class will be taught by the formidable & Emmy-nominated Fatimah Asghar

theministryofwords.com
graphic with class information available at theministryofwords.com
December 30, 2025 at 6:03 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
i wrote about why every year i skip family festivities & spend this day alone

open.substack.com/pub/rokwon/p...
Spending this day alone with my dead Or: on loving what’s absent when its presence is gone In progress by R. O. Kwon rokwon.substack.com picture of a glass of whisky + shrimp-sea bass dim sum
December 25, 2025 at 2:42 AM
rokwon.bsky.social
in these letters, since readers & writers often have questions about process, & I love thinking about process, I’ll go deep on what I’m doing as I continue writing my in-progress novel 💌
December 12, 2025 at 8:30 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
late to the party but I started a Substack! 🫡

the first post is up, about the thought I reliably have anytime a plane jolts or the earth shakes & I suspect I might be about to die

& what this has to do with novel-writing & the extreme usefulness of keeping records

rokwon.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 8:28 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
i violently don’t want to leave Seoul but i want to get back to my San Francisco life & friends & communities. a great blessing to feel so torn
gejang & kimchi & rice in black bowls and dishes
December 8, 2025 at 10:50 AM
rokwon.bsky.social
seoul breaking my heart with its beauty, the roofs striped white with the first snow of the season

haven’t seen seoul looking like this since i was a little kid
handol roofs white with snow in seoul, people in the distance
December 7, 2025 at 2:51 AM
rokwon.bsky.social
💫 space for a shared online writing session that brings together all 3 classes on the weeks we’re not meeting

💫 opportunities to form long-lasting community

you can sign up for both semesters or just the spring by 1/20

theministryofwords.com
Who We Are The Ministry of Words’ classes will be taught by Fatimah Asghar, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, and R. O. Kwon. We have taught at places including Stanford University, Saint Mary’s College, Scripps College, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Tin House Writers Workshop, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Community of Writers, and more.
December 3, 2025 at 4:19 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
we’ve been working on this for months—introducing a new teaching collective ✨

starting 2/4, Fatimah Asghar, @ingridrojasc.bsky.social, & I will offer generative & workshop-based classes! In fiction, nonfiction, & poetry!

theministryofwords.com
The Ministry of Words Introducing a new teaching collective From award-winning writers Fatimah Asghar, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, & R. O. Kwon Offering generative & workshop-based classes in fiction, poetry, & nonfiction starting Feb. 5 Apply by Jan. 20 theministryofwords.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
bay area friends, this will be so lovely—a party 12/3 raising funds for @zyzzyvamag.bsky.social & @litquake.org, two beloved organizations hit hard by NEA & NEH cuts

hosted by daniel handler, @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social, jonathan escoffery, @ingridrojasc.bsky.social, & @alexismadrigal.bsky.social
image with info about a holiday party on 12/3, all info at the link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zyzzyva-litquake-holiday-party-tickets-1762020293129
November 24, 2025 at 11:29 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
hello from paris! here on a fellowship with the american library in paris to do research*

*for my novel. not for doing crimes
October 24, 2025 at 10:34 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
this one means the world to me 😭 I’m a recipient of the @lambdaliterary.org Duggins Prize, an award that “honors LGBTQ-identified authors who have published multiple novels, built a strong reputation and following, and show promise to continue publishing high quality work for years to come”
R. O. Kwon and Carter Sickels Win the 2025 Jim Duggins Prize for PhD Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize
September 30, 2025 at 6:57 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
what luck that I can pursue learning more about “things that greatly interest me” & call it work 😭

www.interviewmagazine.com/art/for-the-...
I fell wildly, urgently in love with Gala Porras-Kim’s work in a Seoul museum, where I saw a replica she made of a sarcophagus held in the British Museum. Taking seriously the beliefs of ancient Egyptians, who built doors facing east to let the dead see the sunrise, Porras-Kim proposed that the British Museum turn their sarcophagus east and wrote a letter explaining why. “Since we cannot yet be certain of the mechanics of the afterlife,” she wrote, “we could consider the perpetual plans of the persons under your charge as a guide for their care and, as such, in their display.”
September 20, 2025 at 11:11 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
in Seoul, I fell wildly in love with the work of Gala Porras-Kim, a Korean Colombian artist who imagines expansively beyond fights around museums’ return of artifacts often considered stolen

who(!) is this brilliant person & how do I talk to her, I thought, & I’m grateful INTERVIEW let me do so
Interview For the Artist Gala Porras- Kim, Sculpture Is a Portal to the Afterlife By R.O. Kwon September 19, 2025
September 20, 2025 at 11:05 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
delighted by these author baseball cards from @mcsweeneys.net, an ongoing series featuring writers including yours truly 💀
baseball card of an illustration of a korean woman with long black hair, text: r. o. kwon, national book critics circle john leonard finalist
August 30, 2025 at 8:41 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
jesus christ. getting an NEA fellowship 10 years ago changed my life. it meant so much. it helped a lot when, weeks later, my agent went out to editors with THE INCENDIARIES, written by an unknown first-time novelist. artists are eligible to apply again 10 years after getting an NEA. were eligible
Dear (R.O. (Reese) Kwon): This is in reference to your recent application to the National Endowment for the Arts' FY 2026 Creative Writing Fellowships. The NEA has cancelled the FY 2026 Creative Writing Fellowships program. The Creative Writing category has been Withdrawn by the Agency and will not be reviewed. We recognize that receiving this news can be disappointing, especially after all the hard work and dedication you put into your application.
August 22, 2025 at 11:52 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
the perfect daikon wedges in the oden at this beloved san francisco izakaya always look to me like big old smiles
daikon & mushroom-fish cakes in a broth, with bowls in the background
August 22, 2025 at 12:08 AM
rokwon.bsky.social
o how i love san francisco in the summer. hello to another deliciously chilly & windy & cloudy day, the gloom in me salutes the gloom in you
July 30, 2025 at 1:07 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
will be a 2025-2026 Visiting Fellow at the American Library in Paris!!! Going to work on & research my novel-in-progress, which involves a heist

Paris friends, will be there this fall 🍂
Korean woman with long black hair in raincoat. Text: The American Library in Paris, 2025-2026 Visiting Fellow, R. O. Kwon The American Library in Paris Visiting Fellowship was created in 2013 to nurture and sustain a heritage as old as the Library itself: deepening French-American understanding. The Fellowship offers writers, researchers, and creators the unique opportunity to spend a month in Paris working independently on their own creative project while contributing to the cultural life of the Library. In addition to working on their own project, Fellows present a public program during their residency that engages our audience and members around a central theme. The theme for 2025-2026 is Ways of Seeing, in line with the Library’s eponymous series exploring how literature and visual art inspire one another.
July 9, 2025 at 1:04 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
i signed this! thank you to the organizers 🫧

writers with published books & people who work in publishing, including agents, librarians, booksellers, illustrators, & more, y’all can also sign the letter here:

lithub.com/against-ai-a...
Against AI: An Open Letter From Writers to Publishers “We want our publishers to stand with us. To make a pledge that they will never release books that were created by machines.”
June 29, 2025 at 12:39 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
was most recently at @booksmith.bsky.social earlier in june to moderate a book event with the brilliant susan choi

you can find their events schedule below, next up they have a book launch with the mighty @maris.bsky.social

www.booksmith.com/event/2025-07
selfie with susan choi, two korean women smiling
June 27, 2025 at 12:14 AM
rokwon.bsky.social
EXHIBIT is out in paperback today!, with an updated cover 🖤

& here’s a banned-books fundraiser & lottery to mark this novel’s one-year birthday +

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/635517/exhibit-by-r-o-kwon
Korean woman with black glasses holding up a paperback copy of EXHIBIT by R. O. Kwon
May 20, 2025 at 11:47 PM
rokwon.bsky.social
a surprise this Asian American Pacific Islander month: I’m told I’m featured in a display of notable AAPI people at my beloved local co-op, Rainbow Grocery, along with Anna May Wong, Sinn Sisamouth, et al. 🪦

thank you to Rainbow cheesemonger Gordon Edgar for the literal heads-up!
pictures of two Asian women, both hanging from a colorful ceiling display, along with a red sign saying “Sinn Sisamouth, Cambodian, Artist, Singer-Songwriter”
May 17, 2025 at 2:04 AM