Ra Jong-yil Lecture 2024 – A Conversation with Min Jin Lee

Please join us for a conversation with Min Jin Lee, author of the bestselling novel Pachinko (2017). Few literary works have received the global attention that Pachinko has in  recent years as the novel was translated into numerous languages, achieved universal critical acclaim, and spawned an award-winning TV show. In many respects, the book and its author stand at the forefront of numerous trends that involve historical memory, subaltern voices, transnational connections, and the creative endeavors of members of the Korean diaspora.

Min Jin Lee migrated from South Korea to America as a child and later majored in history at Yale. She went on to become a corporate lawyer before quitting and dedicating herself fully to her writing. Besides Pachinko, she is the author of the acclaimed Free Food for Millionaires (2007) and is currently working on two additional works, one fiction and the other non-fiction. She has received numerous awards and recognitions and is currently Writer-in-Residence at Amherst College where she teaches writing.