R. O. Kwon 권오경

@rokwon

📚 nationally bestselling novels Exhibit & The Incendiaries • co-edited Kink • Lambda Literary Prize www.ro-kwon.com

1,282 Following26,997 Followers543 Posts

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R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Jun 24

at The Ministry of Words, a teaching collective from Fatimah Aghar, @ingridrojasc.bsky.social, & yours truly, we’re taking applications for fall writing workshops. Scholarships are available for writers of color! Space is limited & applications are rolling classes start 8/27 theministryofwords.com

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Feb 11

so tired of being sad & angry but last week i made friends with this beautiful creature. i think he’s bigger than i am. anytime my attention strayed away from him for half a moment he nudged me like “excuse me, what could possibly be more important than cuddling me,” & he was right. a perfect being

a gorgeous very large white dog putting his head on a pant-clad leg

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Feb 10

how it works: 1. reserve a hotel room with a hilton that is a-okay with hosting ice 2. hold that rsv until the cancellation date 3. …at which point you realize oh you can’t go because the roads are icy! alas ❄️ 4. then perhaps you do it all over again action.sunrisemovement.org/a/shutdownhi...

We are targeting these 7 Hilton Minneapolis locations with confirmed ICE presence:

Home2Suites by Hilton, Minneapolis University, 2808 Univeristy Ave SE. (612) 473-4662

Hilton Minneapolis Airport, 3800 American Blvd E (952) 854-2100

Hampton Inn Eagan, 3000 Eagandale Place, (651) 688-3343

Hilton Garden Inn, Minneapolis Airport-MOA, 1601 American Blvd E (952) 854-1687

Home2Suites Egan, 3939 Cedar Grove Pkwy (612) 567-5810

Home2Suites Brooklyn Park, 9490 W Broadway (763) 567-5810

Doubletree Roseville, 2540 Cleveland Ave (651) 636-4567

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Feb 10

🌞 a @sunrisemvmt.bsky.social call for nationwide help with MN! a quick useful thing you & i can do from anywhere: make a hotel reservation at hilton in MN then cancel it 🌞 & it’s simple & it’s what they deserve & it’s funny & it’s effective action.sunrisemovement.org/a/shutdownhi...

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Feb 1

i wrote about a foiled, doomed attempt to set aside time for a writing residency & about what helped regardless rokwon.substack.com/p/i-had-the-...

I had the idea that the world’s so full of pain it must sometimes make a kind of singing

Or: I made a plan for January & much of it fell apart

I had a plan for January. Since I had relatively minimal obligations for the month, or so I thought, I would set aside time for a home residency. I first did this a year ago: if & when I have the great luck of a stretch of days or weeks to myself, I follow most of the rules I observe at an artists’ residency. I turn ascetic. I tell friends I can’t hang out for a while & explain why.

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Jan 9

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”

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Jan 4

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 trip.whitfield@gmail.com 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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Jan 3

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Dec 30

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Dec 25

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Dec 12

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 💌

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Dec 12

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Dec 8

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Dec 7

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Dec 3

💫 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.

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Dec 3

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Nov 24

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Oct 24

hello from paris! here on a fellowship with the american library in paris to do research* *for my novel. not for doing crimes

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Sep 30

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Sep 20

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.”

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Sep 20

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Aug 30

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Aug 22

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.

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Aug 22

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Jul 30

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Jul 9

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.

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Jun 29

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.”

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· Jun 27

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· May 20

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

R. O. Kwon 권오경@rokwon· May 17

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!