Poets & Writers Theater

“What is it about a woman being ambitious that feels so wayward, that feels so dangerous?” In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast, R. O. Kwon talks about the themes of ambition and desire in her second novel, Exhibit (Riverhead Books, 2024), and what women of color face in the world of art with guest host Jenna Seery. A profile of Kwon by Brian Gresko appears in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“It’s a book about being present to the world and accepting the complexity of the world.” In this virtual event hosted by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Larissa Pham speaks about her new book, Pop Song: Adventures in Art and Intimacy (Catapult, 2021), and the subjects addressed in her essays, including relationships and the differences of expression through visual art and writing, in a conversation with R. O. Kwon.

“I spent the first two years reworking the first twenty pages of this novel, over and over and over again,” says R. O. Kwon about writing her debut novel, The Incendiaries (Riverhead Books, 2018), in this 2018 Asian American Writers’ Workshop event with Alexander Chee. “I realized at the end of those two years that you can’t build a foundation if you don’t know what that house will look like,” says Kwon. “Am I building an opera house? Am I building a skyscraper?”

R. O. Kwon talks about her debut novel, The Incendiaries (Riverhead Books, 2018), with Rich Fahle of PBS Books at the 2018 AWP Annual Conference & Book Fair. Kwon is featured in “First Fiction 2018” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Whenever I’m writing, I’m really just sort of responding to questions that I’m asking, so it’s both reflecting and kind of shaping my life at the time.” In this Green Apple Books event, Lisa Ko reads from her latest novel, Memory Piece (Riverhead Books, 2024), and discusses the importance of writing about friendship, art-making, and collective history in a conversation with R. O. Kwon.