R. F. Kuang

Rebecca F. Kuang is a Chinese-American fantasy writer.[2] Her first novel, The Poppy War, was released in 2018, followed by the sequel The Dragon Republic in 2019.[3] Kuang has won the Compton Crook Award[4], the Crawford Award[5], and the 2020 Astounding Award for Best New Writer, along with being a finalist for the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards.[6][7][8][9]

Rebecca F. Kuang
Native name
匡 靈 秀
Born (1996-05-29) May 29, 1996[1]
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
OccupationFantasy writer
LanguageEnglish
EducationOdyssey Writing Workshop
University of Cambridge
Alma materGeorgetown University
GenreFantasy
Notable awards
Years active2018 – present
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese匡靈秀
Simplified Chinese匡灵秀
Website
rfkuang.com

Life

She emigrated to the United States from Guangzhou, China, with her family when she was four years old.[10][11] Kuang's father grew up in Leiyang, in Hunan province; her mother grew up on Hainan Island.[12] Her mother's father fought for Chiang Kai-shek.[12] Her father's family experienced the Japanese conquest of Hunan.[12][13]

Kuang grew up in Dallas, Texas and graduated from Greenhill School in 2013.[14] She went on to Georgetown University, attracted by the college's well-known debating team after winning the Tournament of Champions.[10] Halfway through college, Kuang was 19 when she began writing Poppy War during a gap year in China, where she worked as a debate coach; the book was published when she was 22.[10][15] Kuang graduated from the Odyssey Writing Workshop in 2016 and attended the CSSF Novel Writing Workshop in 2017.[11] She graduated from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service in June 2018. She spent the summer after graduation coaching a debate camp in Colorado.[12][10][15]

She attended Magdalene College, University of Cambridge as a recipient of a 2018 Marshall Scholarship, where she gained a Master of Philosophy in Chinese Studies.[2][15][16] As of 2020, she is pursuing a MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies at Oxford University.[16]

Her debut novel The Poppy War, a Chinese military fantasy, was published by Harper Voyager in 2018 and is the first book in a planned trilogy.[17] The Poppy War has received mainly favorable reviews, with Publishers Weekly calling it "a strong and dramatic launch to Kuang’s career".[18]

The Poppy War
Main article: The Poppy War

The Poppy War, a grimdark fantasy, draws its plot and politics from mid-20th-century China,[19][20][21] with the conflict in the novel based on the Second Sino-Japanese War, and an atmosphere inspired by the Song dynasty.[22] The Poppy War was nominated for the 2019 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.[23]

Awards

Kuang's novel The Poppy War was finalist for the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. The novel won the 2019 Compton Crook Award for best first English language novel of the year[4] and the 2019 Crawford Award, presented annually by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts.[5]

Kuang was also a finalist for the 2019 Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and won the renamed 2020 Astounding Award for Best New Writer.

Bibliography

Poppy War series
  • The Poppy War (May 2018), ISBN 978-0062662569
  • The Dragon Republic (August 2019), ISBN 978-0062662637
  • The Burning God (2020)
gollark: To the evil Cartwheel*.
gollark: Do we know Eggo's code?
gollark: Yep.
gollark: Soon, he/she too will fall.
gollark: The last survivor of the proud people, er, dragons, of the flare pygmgy community.

References
  1. "R.F. Kuang: Distortions". Locus. July 15, 2019.
  2. Linton, Rachel (December 10, 2017). "Georgetown Author R.F. Kuang Speaks on Upcoming Novel 'The Poppy War'". The Hoya. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  3. Liptak, Andrew (August 1, 2019). "10 new science fiction and fantasy novels to check out this August". The Verge. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  4. "Kuang Wins Compton Crook Award". Locus. April 15, 2019.
  5. "Kuang Wins Crawford Award". Locus. February 1, 2019.
  6. "R.F. Kuang". Nebula Awards. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  7. "World Fantasy Awards℠ 2019 | World Fantasy Convention". Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  8. locusmag (June 29, 2019). "2019 Locus Awards Winners". Locus Online. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  9. "Astounding Award". The Hugo Awards. August 9, 2007. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  10. Randall, Kayla (July 20, 1018). "How a Georgetown Student Published Her Epic Fantasy Debut—Before She Turned 22". Washington City Paper. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  11. "R. F. Kuang". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  12. Kidd, James (July 25, 2018). "China's bloody history and Game of Thrones-style fantasy unite in author R.F. Kuang's debut novel". South China Morning Post. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  13. Junzhou, Qiu; Shilong, Yang (June 7, 2018). "Feature: Young Chinese American writer tells forgotten WWII history in fantasy setting". Xinhua. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  14. "Alumna Rebecca Kuang '13 Awarded 2018 Marshall Scholarship". Greenhill School. September 5, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  15. "First Novel in Trilogy by Recent Grad Draws on Georgetown Studies". Georgetown University. July 17, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  16. "About". Rebecca F. Kuang. August 4, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  17. "R.F. Kuang Stuns With Her Debut Fantasy Novel, The Poppy War". RT Book Reviews. Archived from the original on May 13, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  18. "Fiction Book Review: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang. Harper Voyager, $26.99 (544p)". Publishers Weekly. March 5, 2018. ISBN 978-0-06-266256-9. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  19. "Cover Story: R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War, an Epic Debut Inspired by 20th Century China". The B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog. January 11, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  20. "15 Best New Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books: May 2018". Nerd Much?. May 1, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  21. Mason, Everdeen (May 2, 2018). "Best science fiction and fantasy books out this month (brief book review)". Washington Post. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  22. Pickens, Chris (May 1, 2018). "R.F. Kuang - Interview". BookPage. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  23. "World Fantasy Awards℠ 2019". World Fantasy Convention. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
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