R. O. Kwon is the author of the nationally bestselling novel Exhibit and a recipient of the Lambda Literary Duggins Prize. Kwon’s bestselling first novel, The Incendiaries, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award and the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Prize. With Garth Greenwell, Kwon co-edited the bestselling Kink. Kwon’s books have been translated into seven languages and named a best book of the year by over forty publications. Kwon’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, and elsewhere. She is a 2025-2026 Visiting Fellow at the American Library in Paris.

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, the University of San Francisco, and the Writer’s Center. Born in Seoul, Kwon has lived most of her life in the United States.