Best-selling author Rebecca F. Kuang is headlining this year’s edition of Singapore Writers Festival which runs from 7 to 16 November.

With Kuang as headliner are renowned science-fiction and fantasy writer Ken Liu and acclaimed food writer Fuchsia Dunlo.

Kuang is the number one New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, Yellowface and the latest Katabasis.

Her works have received the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. She was included in the Time100 Next 2023 list and the 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

As a Marshall Scholar, she holds a Master's in Chinese Studies from Cambridge University and another Master's in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford University. She is currently working towards a doctorate in East Asia.

Kuang will be holding a festival keynote talk to about exploring the mythic descent into the underworld in her latest novel Katabasis. Weaving together themes of academic survival and institutional crisis, she will examine the fundamental questions: What purpose does the university serve in society today? Is academia still worth defending against political and economic pressures?

With Amber Chen, Kuang will discuss the brutal realities of oppression while reimagining fantastical worlds in the session “Writing as Resistance: Decolonising Historical Fantasy.”

SWF will feature more than 200 programs and 300 presenters, including poets, novelists and cartoonists. Tickets are now available at singaporewritersfestival.com with a 20 percent early bird savings until 6 October.