It was the last title, though, that made the Guangzhou-born novelist, who publishes as R F Kuang, a household name. Yellowface, which tells of a white author who steals her dead rival’s work and prints it under the guise of being Asian in order to benefit from tokenism and positive discrimination, is a satire on very real issues of cultural appropriation, capitalist interest and jealousy that afflict the publishing industry. It had writers and readers alike side-eyeing every viral release, the arrangement of titles on bookstore shelves (cover facing out or just spines on view?) and any public figure’s overly smiley, obviously manicured social media posts. Part thriller, part commentary, it is razor sharp, witty and wickedly funny — markedly different from her earlier books.
One of the most anticipated fantasy novels of the year sparks intense discourse on sensitive matters of the heart
If you have not been living under a rock starved of any social media or news, you would probably be at least somewhat familiar with Chinese-American writer Rebecca F Kuang — BookTok darling since the release of The Poppy War trilogy in 2018 and author of smashing successes Babel (2022) and Yellowface (2023).
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