R. O. Kwon is the author of the novels Exhibit (Riverhead, 2024) and the bestselling The Incendiaries, which has been translated into seven languages. In addition, with Garth Greenwell she coedited Kink, a New York Times Notable Book and recipient of the inaugural Joy Award. A graduate of the MFA program at Brooklyn College, Kwon was featured as one of Narrative’s Best New Writers for “Superhero,” her first published short story. Born in South Korea, she has lived most of her life in the United States.

Photograph by Jesse Dittmar.

Narrative 10

with R. O. Kwon

On the occasion of R. O. Kwon’s stunning new novel, Exhibit, being published, Narrative has a few burning questions for the author.

1. Who is your favorite character in fiction; your fave character in life?

It’s hard to pick one, but the ambitious, complicated Madame Merle in The Portrait of a Lady is endlessly fascinating to me. I love the book’s other central characters, including Isabel Archer; Gilbert Osmond is one of the more memorably evil figures in anglophone fiction; but Madame Merle holds more of my attention.
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