An Exclusive Interview with Jean Kwok: Dominion, Debut Romantasy & the Trauma Queen of New York — The Spicy Librarian Podcast
The Spicy Librarian PodcastShow Notes
Dark romance and romantasy podcast The Spicy Librarian sits down with Jean Kwok — Harvard physicist, former professional ballroom dancer, bestselling literary author and now debut romantasy writer. We talk Dominion, Ruby’s story, the twists we did not see coming, and why this book is unlike anything else in the genre right now. This week on The Spicy Librarian Podcast we have one of our most special guests to date. Jean Kwok came all the way from New York via London to sit with us in the Spicy Librarian and we are still not over it. Jean’s story is genuinely one of the most remarkable we have ever heard — arriving in New York from Hong Kong at five years old, living in unheated apartments and working in a garment factory as a child, finding her solace entirely in books and the public library, going on to study physics at Harvard, becoming a professional ballroom dancer, writing her debut novel in her attic in the Netherlands over ten years, being dropped by her agent when it was finished, and then sending to the biggest agents in the world anyway and signing within 48 hours. We could not make this up. We did not have to. We get into Jean’s full backlist — Girl in Translation, Mambo in Chinatown, Searching for Sylvie Lee, and The Leftover Woman — before diving deep into Dominion, her debut romantasy and a book that has genuinely taken us by surprise. Four warring dominions, telepathic man-eating tigers, a ribbon dancer with amnesia, enemies to lovers with a love interest who burned down her hut and killed her chicken, and a twist so big three people in the shop turned around to check if Dee was okay. She was not okay. She still isn’t. We also take Jean’s Dominion personality quiz live on air, debate which dominion we belong to, and officially nickname her the Trauma Queen of New York. She accepted. Book two is coming. It takes place in the Red Phoenix Dominion — a matriarchal society of fire sirens run by powerful women — and big news is coming very soon. We will say no more.
00:00 — Introduction: Dee and Katie are recovering from the Maasquerade Ball00:51 — Welcome Jean Kwok to the Spicy Librarian01:45 — Jean’s Story: Hong Kong, New York, Poverty & Finding Books07:13 — Harvard, Physics & Writing a Poem Instead of Homework09:57 — The Agent Who Dropped Her & Sending to the Top Ten Anyway15:31 — The Call That Changed Everything16:41 — Jean’s Backlist: Girl in Translation, Mambo in Chinatown & More24:41 — Searching for Sylvie Lee & The Leftover Woman27:09 — Why Jean Finally Made the Switch to Romantasy30:21 — Dominion: The Full Pitch34:38 — The Twist We Did Not See Coming35:40 — Taking the Dominion Personality Quiz Live45:01 — Book Two: Red Phoenix Dominion Teaser49:30 — Ruby’s Journey & What’s Coming Next50:35 — Thank You Jean & See You Soon Dominion — Jean Kwok (romantasy, debut, enemies to lovers, amnesia, fantasy)Girl in Translation — Jean Kwok (literary fiction, coming of age)Mambo in Chinatown — Jean Kwok (contemporary fiction, ballroom dancing)Searching for Sylvie Lee — Jean Kwok (suspense, literary fiction)The Leftover Woman — Jean Kwok (contemporary fiction, one child policy, second chance romance)
If you loved this episode follow the podcast so you never miss a drop, leave us a review — it genuinely means the world — and head to our website or Instagram for all the latest updates. We’ll see you next Thursday. 🖤
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