R.F. (Rebecca) Kuang’s appearance on the Writer’s Symposium stage in September drew huge applause from a packed auditorium filled with fans of her (mostly) fantasy novels. Author of The Poppy War and Babel, Kuang blends sharp social critique with rich storytelling, exploring power, politics, and the human cost of ambition.
Katabasis, her newest novel, is framed as a literal descent into the underworld. In this program, Kuang explains that the book explores what lands people in their personal hells and how they find the strength to climb out. We meet characters like Alice and Peter, whose competing “maps of hell” reflect the book’s mix of myth, academia, and even a touch of math. Kuang also discusses writing through a difficult season in her life and how the story ultimately became a love letter to recovery and to looking up at the stars again.
Her conversation with Writer’s Symposium host Dean Nelson ranges across craft and career. Kuang began drafting The Poppy War at 19, laughing as she recalls Googling how to find a literary agent—and how the first one to reply is still her agent today. On process, she highlights the care behind her books: Babel, for instance, included multiple sensitivity readers for language and culture. The discussion also touches on ambition (including a memorable nod to “taking down the British Empire” in Babel) and the drive to create work that endures.