Rebecca F. Kuang discusses her new book Taipei Story
Rebecca F. Kuang has completed the first draft of Yellowface, her bestselling 2023 satirical thriller about race and the publishing industry, in just a month. The book, known for its bright lemony cover and striking design, has sold over 1.5 million copies and is being developed for television, reports BritPanorama.
At 30, Kuang, speaking from a London hotel room just before the release of her upcoming book Taipei Story, expressed her reluctance to write a follow-up to Yellowface. She remarked, “I think it’s really dangerous as an artist to chase the market or try to recapture lightning in a bottle. It would just be a massive disappointment to write a book that hits the same audience as Yellowface.” Taipei Story, she notes, is markedly different, presenting a quieter narrative focused on a Chinese American undergraduate who undergoes an identity crisis following her grandfather’s death.
Kuang’s diverse experiences, including her upbringing in Dallas, Texas, where she faced bullying for her accent, have shaped her storytelling. Now living in Boston with her husband, Bennett Eckert-Kuang, a philosophy PhD student at MIT, she is pursuing her own PhD in East Asian Languages and Literature while also serving as a visiting professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross.
“Boston is the first place I got to choose as my own home and set down roots,” she said. Her academic credentials include an undergraduate degree in International History from Georgetown and master’s degrees from Oxford and Cambridge. Kuang embraces her dual identity, reflecting on the significant cultural experiences that inform her writing. “If you’re always on the border, you’re paying attention to habits or ways of speech or social codes that other people take for granted,” she added.
Kuang’s trajectory as a novelist began unexpectedly during her undergraduate studies when she started drafting The Poppy War, which was published at just 21. Her earlier work, Babel, or The Necessity of Violence, explores speculative themes in Oxford, while her forthcoming Katabasis delves into dark academia.
Each new project presents a unique challenge for Kuang. “I think the challenge is exciting. I have so much admiration for writers like Agatha Christie who built a career doing the same thing over and over and still making it fresh,” she noted. “But I’d just get bored writing the same stuff.” Taipei Story originated from her diary entries while studying a Chinese language programme in Taiwan, reflecting her observations and emotions during a transformative period in her life.
The novel addresses complex themes like linguistic determinism while maintaining accessibility and narrative engagement. Its protagonist, Lily, is a 19-year-old Yale student grappling with identity issues and cultural dislocation, mirroring many of Kuang’s own life experiences.
Kuang highlights the nuances of being a second-generation immigrant, noting that her own cultural identity has been both a challenge and an asset. “Straddling cultures is kind of a superpower,” she asserted. Her characters, including Lily, navigate their environments in search of belonging, grappling with internal and external conflicts.
Having moved through various locations, Kuang is set for another transition as her husband has been offered a position at University College London. They are contemplating the nuances of raising a child in the UK, further exploring the complexities of cultural identities.
Taipei Story is published by the Borough Press on 8 September, £22
