The KCCUK is pleased to announce an in-person talk exploring the novel ‘Mater 2-10’ with the author Hwang Sok-yong and the translators Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae.
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024, Mater 2-10 is a multi-dimensional epic tale threading three generations of Korean railroad workers. Starting with a laid-off factory worker staging a high-altitude sit-in, the story vividly depicts the lives of ordinary working Koreans from the Japanese colonial era, continuing through Liberation, and right up to the twenty-first century.
We’re very pleased to be able to present this event in the lead-up to the 2024 Booker Prize announcement. Moderated by Martin Colthorpe, this event will be held at the Korean Cultural Centre on the 20 May at 7 pm.
Author Hwang Sok-yong
Hwang Sok-yong was born in 1943 and is arguably Korea’s most renowned author. The recipient of Korea’s highest literary prizes, he has been shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etranger and was awarded the Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature for his book ‘At Dusk’. His novels and short stories have been published in Korea, Japan, China, France, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. Previous novels include The Old Garden, The Story of Mister Han, The Guest, and The Shadow of Arms. A list of his works that have been translated into English can be found in the LKL Korea Book DataBase here.
Translator Sora Kim-Russell
Sora Kim-Russell has translated works by Pyun Hye-young, Kim Un-su, Hwang Sok-yong, and Bae Suah, among others. Her translation of Pyun Hye-young’s The Hole won the 2017 Shirley Jackson Award for best novel. Her translation of At Dusk by Hwang Sok-yong was longlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize and features in LKL’s shortlist of places to start in Korean literature. Sora has taught literary translation at Ewha Womans University, LTI Korea, and the Bread Loaf Translators Conference.
Translator Youngjae Josephine Bae
Youngjae Josephine Bae is the winner of the 2019 LTI Korea Award for Aspiring Translators and the 2021 Korea Times Modern Korean Literature Translation Award. Youngjae Josephine Bae’s translations include Imaginary Athens: urban space and memory in Berlin, Tokyo, and Seoul (Routledge, 2020) and A Global History of Ginseng: imperialism, modernity, and orientalism (Routledge, 2022). She lives in Seoul, South Korea.
Moderator Martin Colthorpe
Martin Colthorpe is the Director of Modern Culture, an agency specialising in international literary event and festival programming. He worked at Southbank Centre for 10 years, where, as Senior Literature Programmer, he launched the London Literature Festival and oversaw festivals including Poetry Parnassus (for the Cultural Olympiad), Poetry International, and The Rest Is Noise. With Modern Culture, he devised Japan Now festival, running 2016-2020, New Dutch Writing campaign (2019-ongoing) and Flip Through Flanders (2023-2025).
Interpreter Grace Koh
Grace Koh is Lecturer in Korean Literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at SOAS University of London. At SOAS she has taught modules on Korean and East Asian literature, cinema, translation, and literary theory, and has supervised PhD students working on Korean and comparative literature and literary translation. In addition to her academic work, she has collaborated with Korean and British organisations and institutions to help organise, participate and interpret at events to promote Korean literature and culture in the UK.