R. F. Kuang

Born in China to parents whose families had suffered through much of the turbulence of 20th century Chinese history, including the Japanese occupation and the Chinese Communist Party takeover, Rebecca Kuang immigrated to the United States with her parents when she was just four years old. They settled in Texas, where she completed her primary education. Kuang received her BA in history from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, after which she completed a master’s degree in Chinese Studies from Magdalene College, Cambridge; a master’s in contemporary Chinese Studies from University College, Oxford; and embarked on a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University. Kuang wrote and signed a contract for her first novel, The Poppy Wars, while she was still an undergraduate. Published in 2018, it was the first in a trilogy of fantasy works loosely based on 20th century Chinese history. Kuang is self-consciously playful with genre in her work and embraces new artistic challenges. Her next novel after the Poppy War trilogy, Babel, or the Necessity of Violence, is a work of historical fiction written in the style of Charles Dickens, and her fifth book, Yellowface, is a satire of the publishing industry that draws on 21st century psychological thrillers. Kuang’s work has been both critically and commercially successful. Babel debuted at the top spot on the New York Times’ Bestseller List and Yellowface also made that list. Kuang’s work has, furthermore, been nominated for the Goodreads Choice, Hugo, and British and World Fantasy Awards, among many others and has received a Nebula and no fewer than 12 other regional and genre-specific awards.