R. O. Kwon is the author of the nationally bestselling Exhibit, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, which was published in 2024. Kwon’s bestselling first novel, The Incendiaries, has been translated into seven languages and was named a best book of the year by over forty publications. The Incendiaries was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award. Kwon and Garth Greenwell co-edited Kink, a New York Times Notable Book.

Kwon’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, New Yorker, Time, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships and awards from MacDowell, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Yaddo. Kwon was the Stein Visiting Writer at Stanford University and the Mary Routt Chair of Writing at Scripps College, and has taught at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Tin House Workshop, and the University of San Francisco. Born in Seoul, Kwon has lived most of her life in the United States.