The award-winning author of The Poppy War trilogy, Babel and Yellowface in conversation with Saara El-Arifi.

This event will take place in the British Library. It will be simultaneously live streamed on the British Library platform as part of Fantasy Worlds: A Day of Talks online day pass. Tickets may be booked either to attend in person (physical) or to watch on our platform (online) either live or within 48 hours on catch up. Viewing links for the online version will be sent out shortly before the event.

Rebecca F. Kuang’s Babel: An Arcane History, was one of the most acclaimed novels of 2022, of any genre. It was described as a ‘masterpiece that resonates with power and knowledge.. a stark picture of the cruelty of empire, a distillation of dark academia, and a riveting blend of fantasy and historical fiction – a monumental achievement’ (Samantha Shannon).

A Sunday Times bestseller, it was named Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards, a Blackwell’s Fiction Book of the Year and a Waterstones Book of the year finalist, among many awards.

This year, it was followed by literary sensation Yellowface, an internationally bestselling thriller set in the world of publishing that tells the tale of two young novelists in Washington DC.  

Join Rebecca F. Kuang for a rare UK appearance as she talks to fellow writer Saara El-Arifi.  

Part of Fantasy Worlds: A Day of Talks. For the full day programme and to book day in-person or online passes visit the day page.

Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature. 

Saara El-Arifi is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Final Strife and The Battle Drum – the first two parts of The Ending Fire, a game-changing trilogy set in an African and Arabian-inspired world. Her next book, Faebound, appears in 2024. Her work is inspired by her Ghanaian and Sudanese heritage and having been raised in the Middle East until her formative years, when her family swapped the Abu Dhabi desert for the English Peak District hills.  

Supported by the U.S. Embassy, London and the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library.  

This event accompanies our exhibition Fantasy: Realms of Imagination, supported by:

If you’re attending in person, please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event.

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