Press Kit
ABOUT IJK
Short bio:
Isabel J. Kim is the USA Today bestselling author of Sublimation. She is the author of numerous short stories and has won the Nebula, Locus, BSFA and the Shirley Jackson Award. Her work has been translated into multiple languages, reprinted in multiple best of the year anthologies, and has been optioned for film and tv. She lives near New York City in an apartment filled with books and swords. Find her at isabel.kim or @isabel.kim on Bluesky.
Long bio:
Isabel J. Kim is a speculative fiction author who lives near New York City in an apartment filled with books and swords. She is the USA Today bestselling author of Sublimation. Her short fiction has won the Nebula, Locus, and Shirley Jackson Award, is a finalist for the Hugo and Sturgeon Award, and she has previously been a finalist for the Astounding Award. She has been published in Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, and Strange Horizons, among other venues, and has been reprinted in multiple best of the year anthologies, including Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy ‘23, ‘24, and ‘25, and her work has been translated into Chinese and Japanese. Her work has been optioned for film and TV. She is a two-time graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and is delighted that she uses the creative writing degree more than the law degree. When she’s not writing, she’s either co-hosting her internet culture podcast, Wow if True, or contemplating returning to her biglaw career.
Contact/Social Media:
Website: https://www.isabel.kim/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/isabel.kim
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isabeljkim/
Newsletter: https://ijknewsletter.beehiiv.com/
For book/film/translation rights: steven [at] 2armsmedia.com
For media/event/press/ARCs: cassidy.sattler [at] tor.com
photo credit: Amanda Silberling
ABOUT SUBLIMATION
Doppelgangers, corporate intrigue, heartbreak, betrayal, and the harsh permanence of the border: Sublimation is a thrilling and provocative debut for fans of Severance that asks what you'd sacrifice for a different life.
The border cuts you in two.
When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind. One person enters their new country, the other stays trapped at home.
Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten years old and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral.
She doesn’t know that Soyoung plans to steal her body and her life.
How far would you go to live the choice you didn’t make?
QUOTES:
“A mind bending thriller about personhood, homeland nostalgia, global migration, and all forms of alienation.” —R. F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Yellowface
“In this dazzling parable of connection and isolation, Isabel J. Kim’s vividly crafted characters navigate identity, belonging, and the weight of a divided history.” —Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies and The Mortons
“One of the best debuts of the year.Sublimation speaks to our moment, in ways we could not have expected.” —John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling author of Starter Villain
“Beyond candescent… after Sublimation, the immigrant story will never be the same. Kim is a nerve-wracker and a heart-render, a Seoul-lighter and a world-raveler; she also happens to be one of the finest writers working today.” —Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
“Sublimation is one of the most powerful debut novels I've ever had the pleasure to read. It began blowing my mind from the first page.” —Mary Robinette Kowal, USA Today bestselling author of The Spare Man
“Remarkable...Kim performs this high-wire act with preternatural storytelling skill.” —The New York Times
“You can become the person who read this book, or the person who didn't. Don't be the one left behind.” —Seth Dickinson, author of The Traitor Baru Cormorant
“Sublimation speaks to one of our world’s greatest and most ubiquitous crises—the border—with the terrible precision of open-heart surgery.” —Vajra Chandrasekera, Nebula and Ursula K. Le Guin-Award winning author
“Gorgeously rendered and deeply unsettling... a sharp, deeply felt first outing from a writer already at the top of her game.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Kim’s ability to track her world building into ancient times and modern politics, the emotional rawness of the characters and their many-faceted flaws and choices, and Soyoung/Rose’s quest to untangle herself from herself, all make for deeply compelling sf.” —Booklist, starred review
“A layered narrative and exciting plot... Kim offers a unique sci-fi take on diaspora and identity. Hand to fans of Kazuo Ishiguro and China Miéville.” —Library Journal
“Sublimation delivers doubly on its knockout premise, combining a compulsive page-turner with a keen meditation on fractured selves and the opacity of desire. Tremendous.” —Scott Alexander Howard, author of The Other Valley
“Fans of Severance or Jordan Peele’s Us shouldn’t miss this provocatively themed novel.” —Polygon
“The best book of the year. In a world desperately in need of new narratives around immigration and identity, Sublimation is the big bold brilliant book we have been waiting for.” —Sam J. Miller, USA Today bestselling author of Blackfish City
“An unsettling and suspenseful narrative about the borders that cross us and the selves we subsequently leave behind.” —Anton Hur, author of Toward Eternity
“Sublimation expertly weaves myth, fairy tales, and science fiction within an electrifying contemporary thriller to explore identity, memory, and the whims of borders.” —Jade Song, Author of Chlorine
“I have never felt more seen by a book in my life.” —Ai Jiang, Nebula and Ignyte Award-winning author of Linghun
“Sublimation is a heartrending and mind-bending novel about our slippery sense identity and desire—Essential reading for understanding today’s reality.” —Stephanie Feldman, author of Saturnalia
“The best science fiction draws us in, questioning what it means to be human, what life may look like in unrecognizable settings, and how we should treat others. Often, too, it offers warnings. Sublimationis a warning against being asleep inside the miracle of life—and it left me hoping we will soon wake up.” —Haley Byrd Wilt for Christianity Today
REVIEWS, PRESS, ETC:
The New York Times
