Hay Player

Get an insight into the world of publishing with Rebecca F Kuang’s highly anticipated satirical thriller Yellowface, in which a woman watches her frenemy – and super successful author – Athena Liu die…and then steals her manuscript and publishes it under her own name. Kuang discusses skewering the publishing industry, trial by social media, toxic friendships and the co-option of identity politics, and whether any of her characters are taken from real life. Yellowface is Kuang’s first adult contemporary novel; her fantasy epic Babel, which drew on her experiences as a translator and an Oxford graduate, was a New York Times bestseller.