Patricia

Park

Award Winning Young Adult Author

Professor and Journalist

Travels from: Brooklyn, NY

“Park’s work paints an educational but entertaining portrait of what it is like to be a person of color in today’s world. VERDICT Libraries can’t go wrong with adding this timely book to their collection.” — School Library Journal, *Starred Review*

Patricia Park is a tenured professor of undergraduate and graduate MFA creative writing at American University, a former Fulbright scholar in Creative Arts, Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, Edith Wharton Writer-in-Residence, and American Association of University Women fellow, and author of the debut young adult novel, Imposter Syndrome & Other Confessions Of Alejandra Kim, (Random House Children’s, Feb 2023), and the forthcoming YA novel, What’s Eating Jackie Oh? (Random House Children’s, April 2024).

She is the author of the acclaimed adult novel, Re Jane, a Korean American reimagining of Brontë’s JANE EYRE named Editors’ Choice by The New York Times Book Review; Best Books of 2015 by American Library Association; O, The Oprah Magazine pick; NPR “Fresh Air” pick; and others. She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, Guardian, Salon, and others. She is also working on an adult novel about the Koreans in Argentina called CHINO. All of her novels are part of the “Queens Multiverse.”

She was born and raised in Queens, graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, Swarthmore College, and received her MFA from Boston University.

Patricia Park has spoken at over 100 schools, bookstores, and institutions including: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Columbia University, UVA, Stuyvesant H.S., Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, Seattle Arts & Lectures, and many others. She brings her signature humor and heart to each of her events.

Patricia's Featured Titles

What’s Eating Jackie Oh?

Crown Books for Young Readers |

April 30, 2024

Young Adult

A Korean American teen tries to balance her dream to become a chef with the cultural expectations of her family when she enters the competitive world of a TV cooking show. A hilarious and heartfelt YA novel from the award-winning author of Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim and Re Jane.

“Park’s novel delivers authentic characters who will make you laugh…and cry. Not to be missed!” — Ellen Oh, author of The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee

Jackie Oh is done being your model minority.

She’s tired of perfect GPAs, PSATs, SATs, all of it. Jackie longs to become a professional chef. But her Korean American parents are Ivy League corporate workaholics who would never understand her dream. Just ask her brother, Justin, who hasn’t heard from them since he was sent to Rikers Island.

Jackie works at her grandparents’ Midtown Manhattan deli after school and practices French cooking techniques at night—when she should be studying. But the kitchen’s the only place Jackie is free from all the stresses eating at her—school, family, and the increasing violence targeting the Asian community.

Then the most unexpected thing happens: Jackie becomes a teen contestant on her favorite cooking show, Burn Off! Soon Jackie is thrown headfirst into a cutthroat TV world filled with showboating child actors, snarky judges, and gimmicky “gotcha!” challenges.

All Jackie wants to do is cook her way. But what is her way? In a novel that will make you laugh and cry, Jackie proves who she is both on and off the plate.

Patricia Park’s hilarious and stunning What’s Eating Jackie Oh? explores the delicate balance of identity, ambition, and the cultural expectations to perform.

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage, BIPOC Representation, Civil Discourse & Social Justice, Food & Culinary, Kid Lit: Middle Grade, Kid Lit: Young Adult

Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim

Crown Books for Young Readers |

February 21, 2023

Young Adult

Alejandra Kim feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere.

Not at home, where Ale faces tense silence from Ma since Papi’s passing. Not in Jackson Heights, where she isn’t considered Latinx enough and is seen as too PC for her own good. Certainly not at her Manhattan prep school, where her predominantly white classmates pride themselves on being “woke”. She only has to survive her senior year before she can escape to the prestigious Whyder College, if she can get in. Maybe there, Ale will finally find a place to call her own.

The only problem with laying low— a microaggression thrusts Ale into the spotlight and into the middle of a discussion she didn’t ask for. But her usual keeping her head down tactic isn’t going to make this go away. With her signature wit and snark, Ale faces what she’s been hiding from. In the process, she might discover what it truly means to carve out a space for yourself to belong.

Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim is an incisive, laugh-out-loud, provocative read about feeling like a misfit caught between very different worlds, what it means to be belong, and what it takes to build a future for yourself.

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage, BIPOC Representation, Civil Discourse & Social Justice, Fiction, Kid Lit: Young Adult, Latinx Heritage

Re Jane

Penguin Books |

April 19, 2016

Fiction/Young Adult

For Jane Re, half-Korean, half-American orphan, Flushing, Queens, is the place she’s been trying to escape from her whole life. Sardonic yet vulnerable, Jane toils, unappreciated, in her strict uncle’s grocery store and politely observes the traditional principle of nunchi (a combination of good manners, hierarchy, and obligation). Desperate for a new life, she’s thrilled to become the au pair for the Mazer-Farleys, two Brooklyn English professors and their adopted Chinese daughter. Inducted into the world of organic food co-ops and nineteenth–century novels, Jane is the recipient of Beth Mazer’s feminist lectures and Ed Farley’s very male attention. But when a family death interrupts Jane and Ed’s blossoming affair, she flies off to Seoul, leaving New York far behind.

Reconnecting with family, and struggling to learn the ways of modern-day Korea, Jane begins to wonder if Ed Farley is really the man for her. Jane returns to Queens, where she must find a balance between two cultures and accept who she really is. Re Jane is a bright, comic story of falling in love, finding strength, and living not just out of obligation to others, but for one’s self.

Journeying from Queens to Brooklyn to Seoul, and back, this is a fresh, contemporary retelling of Jane Eyre and a poignant Korean American debut.

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage, BIPOC Representation, Civil Discourse & Social Justice, Fiction, Kid Lit: Young Adult, Romance & Romantacy

How Writing Imposter Syndrome Helped Me Get Over My Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome is real. It especially affects BIPOC girls and women, but the feeling is ubiquitous for all from the classroom to the boardroom. Patricia Park, a tenured professor of Literature at American University and award-winning adult and YA novelist and journalist, shares her struggles with imposter syndrome, feeling like she never belonged, and how she “overcame” it in this heartfelt and humorous talk about her life and writing that will inspire others who also struggle with imposter syndrome.

How I Became a Writer

-Growing up as the child of immigrants in Queens, the most ethnically diverse place in the country
-Feeling like straddling multiple worlds but an outsider in all
-Feeling like a minority within a minority
-Loneliness and feeling like I didn’t belong as a child, teen, even into adulthood
-Discovering/uncovering a passion for writing and finding a sense of purpose

Crafting Voice in Young Adult Fiction vs Adult Fiction

What is YA literature and how is the voice different from an adult novel? Tenured professor of undergraduate and graduate MFA fiction writing Patricia Park leads an interactive seminar on how to craft voice in YA fiction. We will discuss characterization, POV, language, voice, tone, and other craft considerations. We’ll talk about pitfalls to avoid. We will also address how a YA audience is different from adult fiction and other genres, looking at sample texts.

Asian American AAPI Heritage Month Speaker

-Inspired by the author’s viral op-ed in the New York Times on anti-AAPI hate, “I’m Done Being Your Model Minority”
-Discussion on the author’s personal experiences as an Asian American female and pressure to conform to the model minority myth
-Discussion on creating allyship, advocacy, and awareness for AAPI-facing issues

Rewriting the Classics, or Jane Eyreheads, Unite!

As an Eyrehead and author of the award-winning novel, RE JANE (a Korean American Jane Eyre retelling), American University Literature professor Patricia Park discusses our collective Brontephilia and enduring love for Victorian classics and the art of invention as reinvention. See also Patricia Park’s CondeNast article on her pilgrimage to Bronte Country in Yorkshire.

Craft Talk on the Writing Process: Novel Writing, Short Stories, Essay Writing, Revision Process, Generating New Material

Prof. Patricia Park teaches undergraduate and graduate MFA creative writing workshops at American University. She can give talks on the writing process and various craft elements such as story structure, POV, dialogue, characterization, etc. She can also discuss the various genres of novel writing, short stories, essays, etc. She can also give a talk on how to revise a creative work.

“Patricia Park’s visit to my graduate fiction workshop was an absolute joy. I had assigned Re Jane as a stellar example of narrative design and character complexity, and my students had so many questions about the book’s craft and her process of writing it. Patricia was wonderfully generous and candid with her answers. She led the discussion with a down-to-earth humor that put everyone at ease. It was so valuable for the students get an unfiltered download about how to solve story-problems, listen to their characters, and persevere over time to bring their literary vision to life. She’s the best.” — K.M. Soehnlein, U of San Francisco, MFA Writing Program, 2023

“Holding the attention of 60 students during the first period on a Monday is no small feat. But author Patricia Park captivated students with her talk on writing with students at Gaithersburg High School. Park’s book Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim was relatable to the students searching for their identities as is Alejandra. Many couldn’t wait to read it, finding themselves nose-deep even before the bell rang.” — Kathie Weinberg, An Open Book Foundation Program Director & former librarian, Gaithersburg HS, 2023

“You should be a stand-up comedian!” — Ursuline School, 2023

“I teach AP Language to high school juniors and advise the school newspaper and Black Student Union. As part of our focus on American Identity and rhetoric in AP Lang, my students read Patricia Park’s recent essay “I’m Done Being Your Model Minority” and analyzed it as a persuasive piece; however and more importantly, it resonated with many of my students, who have since gone on to read her novel Re:Jane. They were particularly elated to have the opportunity to speak with Patricia, who inspired them with her experiences as a New Yorker and writer. In fact, the President of our Asian Affinity Club left the talk declaring, “I want to BE Patricia Park when I grow up!” With ¼ of my students identifying as women of color and deeply interested in reading and writing, Patricia serves as a role model.”

“Having read her first novel and numerous essays, my department is eager to obtain her forthcoming YA novel to enhance our curriculum. Her voice and personality is fresh, honest, kind, and —most of all—inspiring.” — Katie Curtis, Pittsford Mendon High School, 2022

“Ale is a thoroughly appealing protagonist, managing to be wry and vulnerable at once.” — Kirkus Reviews, *Starred* Review for IMPOSTER SYNDROME

“This is a powerful debut YA.” — Buzzfeed on IMPOSTER SYNDROME

“Jane Re may start her journey with ties to Jane Eyre, but she makes her own way in the world, and the result is a truly fresh, modern take on the coming-of-age novel.” — NYT Book Review for RE JANE

“I am a cisgender white female Associate Professor who teaches at an open-enrollment college in rural Nebraska, and my students adored Re Jane! Patricia Park’s Re Jane, which I taught in a Multiethnic Literature course focused on global neo-Victorian and steampunk literature, was an accessible and engaging novel that had my students connecting with a biracial main character who lives in urban NYC and spends a few years abroad in Seoul. My students described it a coming-of-age novel for college students, and everyone found an aspect of their lived experience they could identify with in Jane Re’s own journey. Park’s dynamic characters elicited strong responses and led to productive discussions about romance plots, relationships, and international and intercultural identity politics. Reading it in the context of both multiethnic and neo-Victorian literature led us to analyze the perspectives the novel offered on language and language acquisition, white feminism, property ownership, gender and sexuality, ethnicity and race (particularly in relation to nationality), and literary adaptations. Not only does Re Jane engage with Brontë’s source text, but it is also in conversation with Austen’s novels evident in the way female property ownership becomes an important feature of Jane’s financial future. Re Jane is a rich text to teach in literature courses ranging from Neo-Victorian Literature to Literary Adaptations. Students in my class from the ages of 18-75 and in majors including Biology, Elementary Education, and Creative Writing found Re Jane an inspiring and intellectually stimulating text to read.” — Kimberly Cox, Chadron State College

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Honors, Awards & Recognition

RE JANE won an ALA award
RE JANE was named New York Times Book Review’s Editors’ Choice
*Starred* review for IMPOSTER SYNDROME in:
Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal
Amazon’s Best YA Books so far for IMPOSTER SYNDROME
Tenured professor of undergraduate and graduate MFA-level creative writing at American University
Former Fulbright scholar in Creative Arts to South Korea
Former Edith Wharton Writer-in-Residence
Former Inaugural Jerome Hill Artist Fellow
Former American Association of University Women Fellow