K-Ming Chang on Writing Nine Books Before 30 and Her New Novel Needlemouth

At 28, K-Ming Chang has published nine books, won a Lambda Literary Award for Gods of Want, and been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Korean, German, and Turkish. Her forthcoming novel Needlemouth, due October 2026, follows three cousins on a violent journey triggered by a bedside demon. Chang describes writing as an act of play and transformation, drawing on José Esteban Muñoz's concept of queerness as a horizon of being. She reads before writing, often revisiting side projects, and finds drafting generative while revision is agonizing. She sustains her practice through rage rather than faith, and her work frequently explores bodily imagery—moon, mouth, blood, teeth—and birds. She keeps three pet parrots that destroy books. This feature is part of Cultured's inaugural Young Writers list in collaboration with Montblanc.