Stolen Stories, Cancel Culture & Chaos: R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface Will Leave You Uncomfortably Obsessed

To honor Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re kicking off our first-ever AAPI Voices Series, a week-long celebration of groundbreaking books by AAPI authors. Each day for the rest of the week, we’re dropping a new episode, fresh newsletter, and spotlight feature focused on works that challenge, provoke, and uplift.

First up? The viral, vicious, and darkly hilarious novel that had the entire literary internet spiraling: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang.

What happens when a white author steals the manuscript of her Asian American friend—then publishes it under a vaguely “ethnic” pseudonym? What unfolds is not just a masterclass in satire, but an exposé of everything wrong with the publishing world: racism, performative allyship, online mob culture, and the relentless hunger for relevance.

It’s juicy. It’s uncomfortable. It’s brilliant. And yes, it’s the perfect way to open a series meant to center bold voices and shake up stale narratives.

📚 Yellowface hit the New York Times Bestseller list in 2023 and has only grown in influence since then.

🎭 There’s now a limited series adaptation in development, with readers already casting their dream actors (spoiler: Awkwafina is not interested).

💬 Kuang has become one of the most talked-about literary voices of her generation—after also slaying us with Babel, she gave us Yellowface, her sharpest blade yet.

As Morning Brew put it last week, “The publishing industry loves a scandal—but Yellowface forces us to ask who’s allowed to tell which stories, and at what cost.”

In today’s episode, we dive into:

• ✍️ Authorship & Authenticity: What really counts as your story?

• 🧨 Rage as a Plot Device: Why this novel weaponizes discomfort like no other.

• 🤡 The Internet Spiral: How Kuang captures the terrifying humor of going viral for all the wrong reasons.

• 📉 The Rise and Fall of June Hayward: Our messy, delusional antihero, who makes a trainwreck look graceful.

Whether you’ve read it already or are just Yellowface-curious, this episode peels back every savage, satirical layer.

R.F. Kuang is the award-winning, bestselling author of The Poppy War trilogy, Babel, and Yellowface. A Marshall Scholar and translator with degrees from Georgetown, Oxford, and Cambridge (yes, she’s that girl), Kuang writes with razor-sharp intellect and zero patience for nonsense.

✨ Fun Fact ✨

Kuang has said Yellowface started as a writing exercise about envy—and ended up becoming the wildest literary satire of the decade.

🎙️Listen to whttr on

📚 Purchase Yellowface on Amazon

🎧 Listen to the audiobook on Audible

Or in this case, plagiarize, pitch, and profit from… until the internet comes for your soul.

_{Stay Connected}

This is just Day 1 of our AAPI Voices Series—so don’t even think about logging off.

📅 We’re dropping a new episode every day for the rest of the week, each spotlighting a brilliant AAPI author whose work deserves the mic.

🎙 Catch us on Spotify, Apple, and everywhere podcasts live.
📲 Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky @whttr_podcast 
💌 Forward this to a friend who still thinks representation is a "trend." We’ve got stories that say otherwise.

We’ll see you then with another voice worth amplifying, another book worth reading, and another truth worth telling.

Until then:

📖 Who has time to read? We do—and this month, we’re letting AAPI authors finish their damn sentences.

The WHTTR Team

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