There’s an almost overwhelming number of live pop and hip-hop concerts this month. And I’m not sure when these started, but there are at least three touring K-pop tribute shows doing the rounds of provincial theatres, with another show currently auditioning for a similar tour later this year. Also, to welcome Spring there’s an exhibition of Korean-inspired cherry blossoms at the Garden Museum
Exhibitions
Last chance to see:
- Christine Sun Kim in 1880 THAT, at the Wellcome Collection (until 6 April)
- Drawing Hope: North and South Korean Children’s art for peace, at Friends House (until 3 April)
- Park Jieun: Journeys (pt 2), at Pontone Gallery (until 18 April)
Now on:
- Icheon and Beyond — The Space Within Form, at the KCCUK
Coming soon:
- Cherry Blossom Project, at the Garden Museum, from 28 April
Music
Classical, jazz and world:
- Seong-Jin Cho plays Chopin at LSO St Luke’s, 2 April
- dal:um supports Colin Stetson at the Clapham Grand, 16 April
Pop, hip-hop etc:
- 2Z at the Garage, 3 April
- Junhee at the Oslo Hackney, 10 April
- 1VERSE at the Garage, 13 April
- Yves at the Manchester Academy, 16 April
- GAHO x KAVE at the Underworld, Camden, 18 April
- Rovv, Twlv and Meloh at the Oslo Hackney, 19 April
- Rolling Quartz at the Garage, 19 April
- DEPT at The Grace, 27 April
- Various K-pop tribute acts across the country
Screenings
- You can find BTS’s concerts at Goyang (April 11) and Tokyo (April 18) in some cinemas
- The KCCUK hosts a screening of Piagol (1955) on 29 April
- You can still find The King’s Warden at the Odeon Haymarket, and maybe elsewhere, but not for much longer
Book events
- Waterstones Islington host two book launch events:
- Jiyoung Han on Honey in the Wound, 16 April
- Ela Lee on Minbak, 23 April
- Stanfords host Alice Amelia on How Korean Corn Dogs Changed My Life, 21 April
Everything else
- There’s a Korea Day in Glasgow, 11 April
- There’s the regular K-pop / hip-hop night at Fire Vauxhall on 3 April
Books expected
Academic and history:
- From Koreanness to K-ness: Contemporary Korean Culture and Society, ed Seryun Lee pub Routledge
- Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea’s Personality Cult, by Jonathan Cheng pub Knopf
- North Korea and South Korea: Monopolizing Nationalism in a Divided Peninsula, by Qingming Huang pub Bloomsbury
- The Glosters in the Korean War, by Robert Dixon pub Pen and Sword
Fiction and memoir:
- How Korean Corn Dogs Changed My Life, by Alice Amelia pub Virago
- Honey in the Wound, by Jiyoung Han pub Manilla Press
- Mrs Shim Is a Killer, by Kang Jiyoung tr Paige Aniyah Morris pub Doubleday
- Project V, by Park Seolyeon tr Gene Png pub HarperVia
And, on the subject of books, if you or a colleague/friend/student have time to complete a survey on your thoughts on Korean translated literature, that would be much appreciated and might rescue me from making an idiot of myself when talking on the topic later this summer in Seoul.
As always, please let me know what books or events I might have missed.