Korean literature in translation

Kim Sung Ok: A Literature of and for the Self – Steve Capener at SOAS

by Philip Gowman on 13 May, 2013

in 1960-1993 | Event Notices | Korean literature in translation | Literature | SOAS | Talks and seminars

Post image for Kim Sung Ok: A Literature of and for the Self – Steve Capener at SOAS

On his way to a conference on Alternative Modernisms in Cardiff, Steve Capener gives a talk on one of my favourite authors. Kim Sung Ok: A Literature of and for the Self Steve Capener (Assistant Professor, Seoul Women’s University) 14 May 2013, 5:15 – 7:00 PM Russell Square Room 4421 Abstract After he took power [...]

{ 0 comments }

London Book Fair 2013 – an overview of the Korean publishing market and a brief meeting with Choe Yun and Chung Young-moon

by Philip Gowman 12 May 2013
Thumbnail image for London Book Fair 2013 – an overview of the Korean publishing market and a brief meeting with Choe Yun and Chung Young-moon

London Book Fair 2014 will see Korea as the Market Focus Country. And in 2013 Korea was there to prepare the way. The Korea Publishers Association and the Literature Translation Institute of Korea jointly occupied a stall at the Earl’s Court exhibition, displaying among other things a wide range of translated Korean literature, including a [...]

Read the full article →

Eerie Tales from Old Korea – republished 100 years on

by Philip Gowman 9 May 2013
Thumbnail image for Eerie Tales from Old Korea – republished 100 years on

100 years ago, Homer B Hulbert and James Scarth Gale translated and published “Eerie Tales from Old Korea”, a collection of Korean ghost stories. Now Brother Anthony of Taize has handpicked some of those tales, and Seoul Selection has republished them to celebrate the 150th birthdays of Gale and Hulbert. It’s definitely going on to [...]

Read the full article →

Meet the Authors – Korean Literature event at the KCC

by Philip Gowman 2 April 2013
Thumbnail image for Meet the Authors – Korean Literature event at the KCC

To tie in with a couple of Korea-related events at the London Book Fair, the KCC is hosting an event with two Korean authors on 15 April, chaired by SOAS’s Grace Koh. Choe Yun will be known to many LKL readers as the author of There a Petal Silently Falls – the first book set [...]

Read the full article →

Kim Young-ha: Black Flower – an imaginative re-telling of a fascinating byway of Korean history

by Philip Gowman 13 March 2013
Thumbnail image for Kim Young-ha: Black Flower – an imaginative re-telling of a fascinating byway of Korean history

Kim Young-ha: Black Flower Originally published in Korean in 2003 This edition Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2012, 305pp, Translated by Charles La Shure Black Flower tells the fascinating story of a thousand or so Korean emigrants who sailed from Jemulpo (now Incheon) in 1905 in search of jobs in Mexico, and ended up founding a short-lived [...]

Read the full article →

Winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award to attend Asia House Festival of Asian Literature

by Philip Gowman 17 January 2013
Thumbnail image for Winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award to attend Asia House Festival of Asian Literature

Browsing through the Asia House programme for the upcoming couple of months I saw this encouraging double-page teaser. After the appearance of Changrae Lee at the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature in 2010, they dropped Korea from their 2011 schedule. So at the end of 2011 I wrote to them to suggest a couple [...]

Read the full article →

Kim Young-ha longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize

by Philip Gowman 4 December 2012
Thumbnail image for Kim Young-ha longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize

It’s nice to see that the book I’m currently reading, Kim Young-ha’s Black Flower (검은 꽃), has been longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize. Last year, Shin Kyung-sook’s Please Look After Mother won it. Can Korea make it two years running? At LKL, we loved Kim Young-ha’s Your Republic Is Calling You, and found [...]

Read the full article →

Book review: Modern Korean Literature — An Anthology 1908-65

by Philip Gowman 21 November 2012
Thumbnail image for Book review: Modern Korean Literature — An Anthology 1908-65

Modern Korean Literature: An Anthology 1908-1965 Edited by Chung Chong-wha Routledge / Kegan Paul International, 1995, 467pp If you are looking to sample Korean literature in translation, the chances are that you’ll find more short stories than full length novels. This collection, though not universally enjoyable, is extremely useful in giving an overview of the [...]

Read the full article →

Ko Un featured in the Guardian

by Philip Gowman 13 November 2012
Thumbnail image for Ko Un featured in the Guardian

Korean poetry in translation isn’t much featured on the web anywhere, so when a major UK broadsheet features Ko Un, Korea’s most famous poet, together with his Cornish translator Brother Anthony, it is a cause for celebration. The Guardian has a nice piece on his appearance at the Aldeburgh poetry festival (3-4 November), which is [...]

Read the full article →

Im Kwon-Taek’s Village in the Mist — affairs on an Anonymous Island

by Philip Gowman 29 October 2012
Thumbnail image for Im Kwon-Taek’s Village in the Mist — affairs on an Anonymous Island

Han Su-ok, a young schoolteacher, arrives in an isolated mountain village to take up her first job in an elementary school. As she gets off the bus, the village initially seems deserted, like a ghost town, hemmed in by the high forbidding walls of the surrounding mountains like a prison. You wonder what sort of [...]

Read the full article →

Book review: Yi Mun-yol — Our Twisted Hero

by Philip Gowman 19 October 2012
Thumbnail image for Book review: Yi Mun-yol — Our Twisted Hero

Yi Mun-yol: Our Twisted Hero Originally published 1987 Translated by Kevin O’Rourke Available on Kindle (Minumsa, 2012) or hard copy (Hyperion Books, 2001) Moving to the provinces from a school in Seoul in which the social hierarchy was one he had lived with all his life, our twelve-year-old hero Han Pyongt’ae is faced with a [...]

Read the full article →

Join the Korean Literature in Translation / Catch the Wave competition for some rare Korean literature

by Philip Gowman 4 October 2012
Thumbnail image for Join the Korean Literature in Translation / Catch the Wave competition for some rare Korean literature

Charles Montgomery at KTLit.com and Catch the Wave (Arirang International Radio) are running a short essay competition to enable you to start your library of Korean Literature. 200-300 words (provided they are well chosen), and a hard-to-obtain volume of Korean literature is yours. More details here.

Read the full article →

Buckwheat Season to get the Green Days treatment at Busan Film Fest

by Philip Gowman 3 October 2012
Thumbnail image for Buckwheat Season to get the Green Days treatment at Busan Film Fest

One of Korea’s most famous short stories, Lee Hyo-seok’s Buckwheat Season / When Buckwheat Flowers Bloom (메밀꽃 필 무렵, 1936) is to be brought to the cinema by the creators of Green Days (Korean title 소중한 날의 꿈, 2010). Green Days was LKL’s film of the year 2010 and was the stand-out film at the [...]

Read the full article →

Asia Literary Review Spring Edition is 100% Korean

by Philip Gowman 7 May 2012
Thumbnail image for Asia Literary Review Spring Edition is 100% Korean

This month is the Festival of Asian Literature at Asia House. It’s been a strong year for Korean literature, with Shin Kyung-sook winning the Man Asia Literary Prize as well as being longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Award 2012. There’s an upcoming translation of a novel by Kim Young-ha, and Krys Lee has been [...]

Read the full article →

Jo Jung-rae’s Taebaek Mountains to be translated

by Philip Gowman 3 May 2012
Thumbnail image for Jo Jung-rae’s Taebaek Mountains to be translated

Fans of Im Kwon-taek’s Taebaek Mountains will be pleased to hear that soon you’ll be able to read an English translation of Jo Jung-rae’s epic novel on which it was based, 태백산맥. More details on the Knowledge Pen website. (Via KTLit). But it could take a while – it’s 10 volumes long. Authors: Jo Jung-rae [...]

Read the full article →

Park Kyung-ni’s tomb in Tongyeong

by Philip Gowman 28 April 2012
Thumbnail image for Park Kyung-ni’s tomb in Tongyeong

For peope who like to track down literary landmarks, the tomb of Park Kyung-ni, author of the sweeping epic T’oji (Land) can be found on Mireukdo, Tongyeong, just above a memorial hall dedicated to her life and work. And for those who are short of time (like me), and like to tick off a number [...]

Read the full article →

Interview with Krys Lee in the Economist

by Philip Gowman 13 April 2012
Thumbnail image for Interview with Krys Lee in the Economist

There’s a Q & A with Krys Lee, author of “Drifting House” in the Economist: All the lonely people. Put the book on your reading list – so far, it’s the book to read this year. http://t.co/uTh7gri8 Authors: Krys Lee

Read the full article →

Shin Kyung-sook’s acceptance speech for the Man Asian Literary Prize

by Philip Gowman 18 March 2012
Thumbnail image for Shin Kyung-sook’s acceptance speech for the Man Asian Literary Prize

What could be more appropriate for Mother’s Day? Shin Kyung-sook’s acceptance speech on winning the Man Asian Literary prize for Please Look After Mother: (via Otherwhere) Authors: Shin Kyung-sook (신경숙)

Read the full article →

Shin Kyung-sook nominated for another award

by Philip Gowman 8 March 2012
Thumbnail image for Shin Kyung-sook nominated for another award

Congratulations to Shin Kyung-sook, nominated for another award for Please Look After Mother: the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 bit.ly/xcJBkZ Authors: Shin Kyung-sook (신경숙)

Read the full article →

Shin Kyung-sook on MAN shortlist

by Philip Gowman 11 January 2012
Thumbnail image for Shin Kyung-sook on MAN shortlist

Congratulations to Shin Kyung-sook, whose Please Look After Mother is shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, announced yesterday: http://t.co/hORsoPB9 (Photo: Korea Herald) Authors: Shin Kyung-sook (신경숙)

Read the full article →

I’m six pages in to Seopyeonje, and already I’m crying

by Philip Gowman 30 November 2011
Thumbnail image for I’m six pages in to Seopyeonje, and already I’m crying

By contrast to the glacial pace of T’oji, I’m six pages in to Yi Cheong-jun’s Seopyeonje (http://t.co/Z32AGY0p | US: http://t.co/tjQBtaAD) and already I’m crying. Authors: Yi Cheong-jun (이청준)

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries