You’ve all read Please Look After Mother by now. What did you think of what is probably the most successful piece of translated Korean fiction ever?
If you haven’t read it already, the KCC is granting an amnesty, giving you the opportunity to read it and then discuss it with like-minded people afterwards. It’s part of the year in which they’re focusing on literature, coinciding with Korea as market focus country of the London Book Fair 2014.
Korean Literature Nights (1): Shin Kyung-sook – Please look after Mother.
The Korean Cultural Centre UK is proud to announce a new programme for 2014, the Korean Literature Night. The Korean Literature Night is a monthly discussion group that will cover various themes and topics according to the book of the month. It will take place on final Wednesday of each month, from Feb. to Nov. 2014, at the KCCUK. The first Korean Literature Night will discuss topics from ‘Please look after mother’, a beautifully rendered novel about sacrifice, guilt, and the ties of family love.
Event Date: 26th Feb, Wednesday
Venue: Korean Cultural Centre, Film Archive
Entrance Free: Booking Essential
RSVP to [email protected] or call 0207 004 2600
RSVP deadline: 7th Feb 14.00
Available Seats: 15You can pick up a copy of the book from the KCCUK, once you have received your confirmation e-mail.
About the Book- Please look after mother
Please Look After Mother is the story of So-nyo, a wife and mother, who has lived a life of sacrifice and compromise. In the past she suffered a stroke, leaving her vulnerable and often confused. Now, travelling from the Korean countryside to the Seoul of her grown-up children, So-nyo is separated from her husband when the doors close on a packed train.
As her children and husband search the streets, they recall So-nyo’s life, and all they have left unsaid. Through their piercing voices, we begin to discover the desires, heartaches, and secrets she harboured within. And as the mystery of her disappearance unravels, we uncover a larger mystery, that of all mothers and children: how affection, exasperation, hope and guilt add up to love. Compassionate, redemptive and beautifully written, Please Look After Mother will reconnect you to the story of your own family, and to the forgotten sacrifices that lie at its heart.
Biographical Notes- Kyung-Sook Shin
Kyung-sook Shin is the author of 6 novels in addition to Please Look After Mother, which has been published in 19 countries, and has sold almost 1.5 million copies in South Korea alone. She is one of the country’s most widely read and acclaimed novelists, having won the Manhae Grand Prize for Literature, the Dong-in Literature Prize, and the Isang Literary Prize, as well as France’s Prix de l’Inaperu. She divides her time between Seoul and New York.
The first session is now over-subscribed. It got booked out soon after the KCC put the notice on their website. I can’t imagine this happening five years ago (obviously, PLAM wasn’t available 5 years ago, but you know what I mean). Hard to tell thus far whether this is due to the undeniable increase in interest in Korean culture in London over the past few years, or whether it’s the PLAM effect. It will be interesting to see whether future sessions book out so quickly. I hear rumours that Your Republic is Calling You (LKL review here) may be up soon, which also deserves to be over-subscribed. Hopefully the series will then build a momentum so that people will be encouraged to try out the less well-known names.