R.F. Kuang says there’s 'quite a lot' of herself in 'Katabasis' protagonist Alice

2026-06-16 · 9 min · 7 entities

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→ references Katabasis book

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R.F. Kuang says there’s 'quite a lot' of herself in 'Katabasis' protagonist Alice R.F. Kuang’s fantasy novel Katabasis , first published in 20
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mentioned Arts concept

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discusses Arts concept

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discusses Books concept

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mentioned Katabasis book

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evidence rules-v5
R.F. Kuang says there’s 'quite a lot' of herself in 'Katabasis' protagonist Alice R.F. Kuang’s fantasy novel Katabasis , first published in 20
references Katabasis book

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evidence rules-v5
R.F. Kuang says there’s 'quite a lot' of herself in 'Katabasis' protagonist Alice R.F. Kuang’s fantasy novel Katabasis , first published in 20

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hosted by NPR company

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Episode description as stored

R.F. Kuang’s fantasy novel Katabasis , first published in 2025, is out in paperback. The book is about two rival doctoral students studying magic at Cambridge University. Together, they travel to hell to rescue their recently deceased thesis advisor. Last year, Kuang joined NPR’s Emiko Tamagawa for a conversation about the novel at a live event in Boston. They spoke about Kuang’s rigorous approach to the study of magic, how the author sees herself (and her husband) in Katabasis ’ protagonists, and the myth of the male genius in academia. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy