R.O. Kwon 권오경
@rokwon
Followers
52,838
Following
7,698
Media
150
Statuses
3,195
📚 EXHIBIT, a novel, out 5.21.24 • THE INCENDIARIES, a national bestseller • co-edited KINK • ✍🏻 @nytimes @newyorker @vanityfair @guardian • she/her 🌈
San Francisco
Joined February 2011
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Northern Lights
• 146703 Tweets
オーロラ
• 138107 Tweets
#aurora
• 110495 Tweets
Knicks
• 77770 Tweets
Pacers
• 53547 Tweets
#solarstorm
• 49138 Tweets
BECKY X MAYBELLINE LIVE
• 46350 Tweets
Game 4
• 42641 Tweets
#REBECCAPINKLOVELIVE
• 36133 Tweets
Ushuaia
• 34536 Tweets
Brunson
• 34368 Tweets
melanie
• 33784 Tweets
Timberwolves
• 31299 Tweets
BUMP
• 27511 Tweets
#キントレ
• 26768 Tweets
Protection Campaign
• 23752 Tweets
HBD LINGLING KWONG
• 22705 Tweets
#MenolakLupa271T
• 18746 Tweets
UsutTuntasRBT UsutRBS
• 18602 Tweets
Nembhard
• 16705 Tweets
Hughes
• 16321 Tweets
バチコン
• 11918 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
pre-orders are up for my new novel & here is the cover, EXHIBIT will be out in May ‘24!!!
EXHIBIT has been an 8-year obsession & it’s full of desire & ambition & revenge & queer exuberance & I’m so utterly thrilled to get to share it with y’all 🖤💌
32
127
647
Things that are truly pro-life:
- abolishing the death penalty
- vastly improved prenatal care
- universal health care
- vaccinations
- better gun laws
Things that are deeply hateful & not at all pro-life:
- this whole fucking travesty of a misogynistic Georgia abortion law
356
45K
146K
who else has the type of anxiety that tells you that, if you stay hypervigilant & informed & if you, in detail, imagine every possible bad outcome, you will thereby ward off harm to yourself & your whole community like some kind of powerful, jumpy magician
& how are you doing
2K
6K
47K
that sounds great. Whatever works for everyone! Not a problem. Up for anything. Down for anything. Yes to all of the above! Does anyone have a preference? Either sounds excellent. I'm open to options! I have no needs. I have no wants. I'm a lady
50
3K
33K
shoutout to all the anxious people who anticipated roughly this level of chaos & feel nothing but miserable about having been right
161
4K
29K
extremely rude of writing to remain difficult in the midst of a global crisis
49
3K
17K
Christina Yuna Lee was killed in New York on Monday. In New Mexico, on Tuesday, an Asian woman was murdered at the massage parlor where she worked. A memorial in Chinatown to Christina Yuna Lee was vandalized. I don't have words anymore for this heartbreak
88
2K
14K
absolutely aghast that I have lived this long without anyone telling me that this is how a peacock looks when it's flying
116
2K
14K
the widespread idea that there are no mothers ever who regret having had children is so incorrect & wild. There are definitely mothers who can't wish their children gone, but do wish they could rewind time & undo it. I've lost track of how often I've heard this firsthand
77
1K
13K
Asian reporters fluent in Korean who know Atlanta are being told they might be too biased to cover the shootings
& I mean who are they, who are these newsroom people telling Asian reporters they'll be too biased to cover an anti-Asian massacre, I just want to talk
97
4K
11K
Asian people—& other people too, but especially Asian people—if you see the video from yesterday of the 65-year-old Asian woman being attacked in Manhattan, you might not want to watch it. I did & it's all I can think about, I wish I could unlearn this part of it
170
2K
11K
To the white man at the bar who asked if I'd read Faulkner, then heard me say yes, then said he’d never read Faulkner but he did once read one (1) article about Faulkner, so now he could tell me all about Faulkner's views on racism:
what, & I cannot stress this enough, the fuck
114
556
10K
easy things to do:
- if you hear anyone repeat the bullshit that these attacks weren't racist, tell them to shut the fuck up
- if someone proposes more policing is the answer, tell them to shut the fuck up
- if you see anyone humanize the shooter, tell them to shut the fuck up
32
2K
10K
okay but what if RUSSIAN DOLL was god's way of inadequately preparing us for the pandemic & the way each day feels like a cursed, increasingly wearying repetition of the previous day
70
964
9K
tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the Atlanta spa shootings. The names of the people who died that day:
Xiaojie Tan
Daoyou Feng
Hyun Jung Grant
Suncha Kim
Soon Chung Park
Yong Ae Yue
Delaina Ashley Yaun
Paul Andre Michels
20
2K
8K
oh while the lights are still on: y'all independent bookstores make a third of their sales between Thanksgiving & the end of the year, & in times of chaos I promise books are still good
please consider getting holiday presents from local bookstores, many of which ship nationwide
45
3K
8K
why the fuck not just make all the subways everywhere free, wouldn’t that be cheaper than policing the subways
493
894
8K
my favorite translation moment in PARASITE might have been when Ki-jeong, annoyed by her brother, says "죽을래," which the English subtitles translated as "shut up"
the literal translation of "죽을래?": "do you want to die" 💛
I watched a Korean movie on the plane and among other delights there was a moment when a character screamed FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKMOTHERFUCKINGFUCKER *in English* and the subtitles translated it as, “What the heck?”
24
208
3K
47
696
6K
it's pretty rude of sadness to also be completely exhausting
24
888
6K
is it an anxiety disorder or is it just being very reasonable
13
668
6K
hello, hi! I've assembled a list of 2023 books I'm anticipating from women of color, the year ahead looks about as alarming as usual but hey the books will be splendid 💛
40
2K
5K
Maybe every week, I think about an intelligent, thoughtful, highly educated guy I knew in college who very seriously believed that, since so many of the women he knew had shimmering eyelids, our eyelid skin just naturally produces glitter
He was pre-med
68
420
5K
something I didn't know until I learned it firsthand: if you stay close to writers with whom you started out, & you & they keep going, then one day you might look around & realize to your amazement & joy that some of your favorite books are written by some of your closest friends
26
324
5K
I wrote a letter to Asian women living in America. To, not for—obviously there's no way to write for all of us—but I've felt pulled toward spaces with Asian women this week, & at least for now we were the only people I could bring myself to write to
116
1K
4K
not enough has been said in praise of peanut M&Ms, a perfect food that can be (a) a crunchy treat (b) a source of protein (c) a stopgap meal (d) a colorful distraction from sadness (e) all of the above
104
381
4K
people keep saying that if this ever ends we’re never wearing heels or bras again & I definitely support your choices but also I plan to veer toward high excess. The first thing I’m buying is over-the-knee stiletto boots. I want peacock fascinators & I want chandelier earrings
88
278
4K
independent bookstores make something like a third of their sales between Thanksgiving & New Year's, & that's going to be really complicated this year given all the supply-chain fuckery, please consider picking out holiday presents from your local bookstores as soon as you can ❤️
16
1K
4K
having such trouble working & only recently did I realize, I’m grieving, too. It’s not just fear & anxiety. I’m grieving what we’ve already lost, grieving the increased pain about to hit so many, & grief EATS time & attention
43
404
4K
an underrated pleasure is lying in bed doing exactly nothing. Just lying there, inert, being totally & exquisitely useless
36
640
4K
Grace Paley said politics is how we treat people & I’m now going to repeat that for the rest of my life to every person who tries to tell me they’re “apolitical”
17
693
3K
me: I physically need to watch a movie involving vengeance
most people: huh?
Koreans: what kind, do you want movies or shows, are you in the mood for familial vengeance or ghost vengeance or zombies or organized crime, grim or funny, historical or contemporary, how bloody
56
367
3K
if you can't protest in person, that's okay, you can support protestors & donate to a bail fund; if you don't have spare cash, that's okay, you can call your reps; if you fear phone calls, that's okay, you can speak up with the racists in your life; if you have trouble arguing, t
11
909
3K
I miss yelling with friends in bars, I miss saying yes to the fourth round & realizing it's going to be that kind of a night, I miss issuing drunken, enthusiastic affirmations of my friends' choices & swearing I'll bear a lifelong grudge against their enemies
27
206
3K
went out to lunch with four generations of my family, & M. & I managed to GET THE BILL, I am addled with adrenaline, I have peaked, there’s no place to go from here but down
42
36
3K
feeling crushed. I love this words-based cesspit. Love the jokes & highly specialized literary kerfuffles & I really, really love eavesdropping. I’ve learned so much here from eavesdropping. I can go elsewhere & will, but probably staying as long as feels conscionable
28
178
3K
I know there's a thing or two going on but er hi!, my first piece for the
@NewYorker
is up today! It's a look at the work of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, the foundational Korean American writer & artist. & it's a goddamn honor to get to write about her 😭
73
418
3K
was talking with a friend about a central novel character who might or might not end up having an abortion, & he said "what if she had a miscarriage, that would be more sympathetic," so well in fact he helped me figure it out, now this character is sure as fuck having an abortion
33
68
3K
are other introverts experiencing wildly amplified introversion these days? Been very introverted my whole life but am now so much more so, like if I'm around a bigger group of people I experience sudden-onset internal ecosystem collapse & must flee at once to a dark, silent room
72
117
3K
So many Asian friends are struggling. It's a lot to have to be terrified of anti-Asian racism on TOP of feeling terrified of this wretched virus. I don't have a joke I can make about this, just wanted to say you're not alone & I'm not alone 💛❤️💛
56
658
2K
One of my teachers at Columbia was Joseph Brodsky...and he said "look," he said, "you Americans, you are so naïve. You think evil is going to come into your houses wearing big black boots. It doesn’t come like that. Look at the language. It begins in the language."—Marie Howe
16
414
2K
having more trouble than usual picking myself up off the goddamn floor, I will absolutely fucking get there but it’s taking time. If you’re struggling too I salute you, from this floor
31
175
2K
today, like every day, I find I am once again deeply glad to be Korean
43
28
2K
shoutout to the anxious people who've tried hard this whole time to keep the plane from crashing by holding it up with our minds
33
228
2K
I think this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, "No Explosions," like every day:
To enjoy
fireworks
you would have
to have lived
a different kind
of life
8
388
2K
y’all I have some news: THE INCENDIARIES is being developed as a TV show!!!
& I am so very excited about working with
@filmnation
&
@LisaMRandolph
&
@kogonada
😭 ahhhhh
262
157
2K
I keep thinking about how most of the first-generation Asian elders I know wouldn’t want to tell their own children about an attack, let alone report it. & so of course there are a lot more attacks happening. My mother was once in a car crash & didn’t tell me for months
20
211
2K
yesterday at 7:30 p.m., on a busy street, I was chased to my car by a shouting, cursing, male-presenting person. They then ran after my car; I drove through a four-way stop, ahead of the other waiting cars, who let me go I think because they saw what was going on
180
135
2K
just signed all the way up to volunteer with
@staceyabrams
’s
@fairfightaction
for the upcoming Georgia runoffs I want the goddamn Senate I want it all
52
462
2K
it has been five entire weeks since I’ve spoken in person to anyone I’m not living with & forgive me, my self-control is slipping: I will join your movement, here is a picture of me when I was 20
52
57
2K
was anyone else so afraid of what could happen today that you refused to let yourself imagine past the morning of 1/20 & now you feel as though you're inhabiting a strangely blank space, clean of imagined emotion, like it's an afterlife
48
192
2K
Last fall, I started talking publicly about being bisexual!
@oprahmagazine
asked if I could write about why. The first line: "I'm a private person." ❤️
56
281
2K
thinking about how, all pandemic long, zero male strangers touched me without my consent, & the minute I left my usual circles a man reached over & grabbed my arm, & what I would like to say is that clothing designers should perhaps make us jackets with literal porcupine quills
18
173
2K
Do not care if you just arrive in your skeleton. / Would love to take a walk with you. Miss you. / Would love to make you shrimp saganaki. / Like you used to make me when you were alive.
this poem by
@rocketfantastic
has been singing to me all night & I’m thankful to its music
32
408
2K
that feeling when you're at a café & you notice a stranger has your book & is reading it 👀
42
12
2K
@pmcottrell
a writer on that letter went on a date with a friend & she refused to ever see him again because he spent the entire time talking about himself & failed to ask one (1) question in return
15
28
2K
the sucker-punch of learning that your novel—along with, it seems, the vast majority of your friends’ books—was used to train chatGPT without your consent or knowledge
worked ten years on that book, it kind of nearly killed me, this is enraging
NEW: This summer, we reported on the contents of a controversial database used to train generative AI products from Meta, Bloomberg, and others. Many people requested an ability to search it. Today,
@_alexreisner
delivers.
58
1K
2K
26
368
2K
yesterday my anxiety was spiking really, really high, veering toward a panic attack, & for the first time I tried talking to it: I said I knew it was trying to protect me, & thanked it for trying to look out for me, but that I was okay for now
& it helped! 😭 No panic attack
35
52
2K
I wrote a piece on what have been overwhelmingly white silences about anti-Asian racism from even would-be allies. I felt I had to write this after hearing from a lot of Asian people, especially women, the past couple of months. With thanks to
@VanityFair
32
595
2K
do you also have a low-key fantasy of being an "editor-at-large" for a publication except you don't necessarily want to edit, you just want to be at large & wild & free, or is that just me
57
56
2K
oh my goodness
A few months ago
@rokwon
tweeted this line, and I think about it every day. So I stitched it and now it’s going next to my mirror because she gets me 😂😅
8
67
577
5
76
2K
hi! GA & NC are looking for volunteers to help with curing rejected ballots these next few days! More ballots have been rejected from voters of color than white voters, so weird how that happens
to text-bank or phone-bank, sign up here:
@votesaveamerica
16
2K
2K
hi, fiction writers, if you're able to write these days, do you have any insights into how
257
121
1K
my writer mentor said that we should consider the possibility of writing for our most generous readers, our most attentive & thorough readers
& I’ve loved that advice
“imagine the least generous reader you can imagine and pre-empt their objections” this paralyzed me for half a decade
30
289
3K
19
312
1K
just started an email to my entire family with the line "I apologize for how alarming this following article is, but I'm sending it to underline how important it is to self-quarantine" or in other words I am now fully inhabiting the role of weird-aunt-who-sends-urgent-emails
27
33
1K
my new novel, EXHIBIT, will publish in May 2024! I started working on it in 2015 & its obsessions include art, sex, ambition, curses, Korean mythologies, & generations-old revenge, also the book is very queer
94
92
1K
also of course, if you didn't know, you can change your settings so that videos don't autoplay, we can try to protect our hearts, we need them for the long run
8
113
1K
anyone now keeping a stack-ranked list of how you caused the pandemic? my top contenders:
- said in Feb. that I finally liked my schedule & had time to write
- claimed I would do anything for more time home
- listened to Billie Eilish's "everything i wanted," multiple times
143
43
1K
almost everyone I'm talking with is too anxious to even let themselves hope & that is reason no. 972,817,267,263 I will never forgive that orange man & his supporters, for making it feel dangerous to hope
20
150
1K
a strange side effect of daily anxiety is that, in times of extra stress, I sometimes end up feeling bizarrely calm—it's like, oh hello, chaos, I've been expecting you all along
33
122
1K
just signed up for this anti-racism bystander intervention training—it’s free, & it’s an hour long ♥️ figuring this could be especially useful as more people congregate, join me?
28
422
1K
people who live with panic attacks: can you tell me what you do to fight them off. Lately mine are a factor almost daily & uh it's a lot
things that have worked for me: dancing, any fast exercise, lifting heavy weights, talking to the panic & thanking it for looking out for me
351
41
1K
arguably the best art advice of all time
'The Witch' (2015) director Robert Eggers says his number one tip for screenwriters is don't put a goat in your film
"You can't train a goat, the goat was a fucking nightmare"
236
4K
26K
20
122
1K
honestly I envy poets their relationships with the moon
29
118
1K
it has been a full day since Four Seasons Total Landscaping happened & we still do not have an exquisitely detailed, minute-by-minute account of what went down, how can this be
31
68
1K
there is almost no one I distrust more than those so juvenile as to mistake vulnerability for weakness
5
131
1K
“Gen Z and Millennials are using public libraries, both in person and digitally, at higher rates compared to older generations,” says an
@ALALibrary
report
lately I tear up at any good news, but this is really so good 🥹
10
285
1K
an Asian reporter was told they might be "too emotionally invested" to report on the shootings, oh okay so like how Japanese Americans were considered too biased to be trusted during WWII, is that it?
@rokwon
Did they tell any white reporters they couldn't report on the shooter because they might be biased?
2
62
593
8
247
1K
I think people tell me about this because I've written about not wanting to have kids. & often they had kids even though they weren't sure, or really didn't want to, but felt pressured, or they had religious reasons not to abort, or they couldn't abort, etc.
3
34
1K
I have been angry this week. Christian said, / Trust your anger. It is a demand for love.
—Natalie Diaz, from POSTCOLONIAL LOVE POEM
7
236
1K
your regularly scheduled reminder that steamed dim sum reheats easily in a microwave & it is delicious & if there is a dim sum place near you offering delivery then you too can have dim sum every week like the lord intended
19
45
1K
truly a joy to put together this
@ElectricLit
list of 2021 books I'm anticipating from women of color ❤️✨❤️
28
376
1K
"We should be able to take a break from being trapped in our own minds for a little while, every now & then," I thought, wistfully, then realized this exists & it's called drugs. I tried inventing drugs
20
72
1K
can we get a thread going of Asian American scholars & historians & activists who might still have wherewithal for talking to media about these shootings? If you're one such scholar/historian/activist, tag yourself, maybe?
50
331
1K
you know what I’m excited for if & when I can go dancing again? That moment when you’re dancing & really into the music & you notice someone else is too & you kind of start dancing together & it’s joyful & funny & then you part ways & never see each other again, damn I miss that
16
52
1K
we deserve better than to be this afraid on our goddamn Election Day
11
121
1K
my body so badly wants me to buy a 50-pound bag of rice even though I don't eat all that much rice & don't cook much & have never bought a 50-pound bag of anything, how do I convince my ancestors that I won't die just because I don't have a 50-pound bag of rice
75
28
1K
hello! I've compiled a list of 2024 books I'm anticipating from women of color & here it is, a bonanza of novels, essay collections, memoirs, & more
26
417
1K
"...remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game."—Toni Morrison (photo by Waring Abbott)
4
349
1K
not tweeting the New Mexico woman's name yet because I'm remembering that, last year, with the Atlanta spa shootings, there was an initial call to hold off on names until the families had all been notified. I'm so sorry we didn't protect you 💔
3
55
970
it is almost unbearable to think of how big of a difference it could have made if they’d banned him months or years ago
Online misinformation about election fraud dropped 73% after they banned the liar in chief
13
82
292
3
172
975
today is the two-year anniversary of the Atlanta spa shootings. The names of the people who died that day:
Xiaojie Tan
Daoyou Feng
Hyun Jung Grant
Suncha Kim
Soon Chung Park
Yong Ae Yue
Delaina Ashley Yaun
Paul Andre Michels
🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️
3
284
976
people who've given birth: are there gifts you especially appreciated right afterward, while recovering from the wild-ass ordeal? I usually opt for food, but I'm wondering if there are other things that felt especially good or useful or
393
42
966
& every time I've heard this, it tends to be a story of anguish. It can be a really hard way to live
3
19
949