For those keen to lock down their diary commitments well in advance, the Barbican has just announced its September 2025 – July 2026 classical music season. For Seong-jin Cho fans, you have four opportunities to see him – including two performances of Chopin’s 2nd piano concerto – in what is billed as an Artist Portrait. … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 4)
April events 2025
Bong Joon-ho is on the cover of this month’s Sight and Sound, marking the special season of his films at BFI and the theatrical release of his Mickey 17, and Park Jiha has a three concert tour to celebrate her new album. You probably didn’t manage to get tickets to Yunchan Lim’s Wigmore Hall recital, … [Read More]
Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet – the perfect opening to BFI Flare 2025
BFI Flare launched yesterday with a humdinger of an opening movie: Andrew Ahn’s reimagining of Ang Lee’s 1993 The Wedding Banquet. Ahn’s partner in creating this update, James Schamus, also co-wrote Ang Lee’s version. While the original film features a single gay couple and a marriage of convenience, the reboot has two gay couples, which … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Bestselling and beloved – Korean Literary Treasures
While primarily envisaged as a home for temporary displays of visuals arts, the KCC exhibition space over the years has hosted a number of exhibitions featuring historical or literary themes. 2024 started, for example, with an exhibition looking at the early relations between the UK and Korea, celebrating 140 years of diplomatic relations, and later … [Read More]
March events 2025
Today is LKL’s 19th birthday – we launched on 1 March 2006. I’m hoping to celebrate by getting myself a ticket for one or two of the Korean movies at BFI Flare. Somehow. But there’s plenty else to keep me occupied if I’m not successful – like Sun-Mi Hong at the Vortex. Screenings BFI Flare … [Read More]
Festival of Korean Dance 2025 – programme details announced
Here’s the official press release for the 2025 Festival of Korean dance. This year, in addition to performances at The Place in London, the festival tours to Bournemouth, Salford and Newcastle. A Festival of Korean Dance returns for its eighth year with 17-strong ensemble headliner and a live rock band Presented by the Korean Cultural … [Read More]
Snowy Day – a new collection of Lee Chang-dong short stories
I’ve been following Korean literature in translation now for around 25 years. Back in the day, I’d buy everything I could lay my hands on – after all, there wasn’t much of it around, so there wasn’t much financial commitment involved. At the time, most of the literature available was originally written more than thirty … [Read More]
February events 2025
The best of wishes for the new lunar year. Like January, February is currently looking to be pretty quiet. But keep checking our Facebook group or sign up for email updates in the sidebar of LKL’s front page – we only find out about some things pretty late in the day and those events don’t … [Read More]
2024 in review part 1 – the cultural year in London
In the first of three articles – which have taken far longer than they should have done to write – we look back over the past year of Korean events in London and elsewhere. At this point in the year we always ask ourselves the question as to whether there is any sign of the Korean … [Read More]
2024 in review part 2 – the books that caught our eye
2024 was a busy year for Korea-related books in English. Over one hundred books from the year made their way into the LKL Korea Book DataBase, and there were many more that didn’t make the cut. As translated Korean literature becomes ever more prominent in our bookstores, 2024 was, of course, the year in which … [Read More]
2024 in review part 3 – the film festivals and other screenings
In a somewhat disappointing filmic year in Korea, in London we could nevertheless celebrate the fact that a handful of the latest big-budget Korean movies continue to have limited-scope theatrical releases. In 2024 we got director Heo Myung-haeng’s contribution to the Roundup franchise, and the final instalment of Kim Han-min’s Yi Sun-shin trilogy, plus Jang … [Read More]
January events 2025
Happy New Year – and congratulations to Jim Hoare, awarded an OBE in the New Years Honours list for “services to UK interests in the Korean Peninsula”. As is often the case January is a fairly slow month for events: Exhibitions Closing imminently are: Haegue Yang’s Leap Year, at the Hayward Gallery (till 5 Jan) … [Read More]
Season’s Greetings to all our readers
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all of LKL’s readers, friends and contributors. At a time when nowhere in the world seems immune from division, disruption or worse, we remember that it is our personal connections and friendships that bring healing and sustenance. Have a restful holiday season with your loved ones, … [Read More]
December events
After the hectic activity of the last two months, be grateful for a slightly quieter December, enabling you to get some Christmas shopping done. The highlight of the month is the continuation of the BFI’s Echoes in Time season, with some cracking films from the turn of the millennium, as well as some restored classics. … [Read More]
November events
The need for difficult decisions continues into November, with music, film, literature and artistic events simultaneously calling for our attention. LKL’s pick of the upcoming month has to be Lee Heemoon at the Purcell Room, closing this year’s K-music Festival. Regretfully, we’re going to have to pass on Geumhyung Jeong’s performance at the ICA (we … [Read More]
London Korean Film Festival Announces 2024 Programme
Here’s the official press release for this year’s London Korean Film Festival, released today. Some good things here! Korean Cultural Centre UK announces London Korean Film Festival 2024 Programme Opening Gala Film: Park Beom-su’s VICTORY Closing Gala Film: E.oni’s LOVE IN THE BIG CITY Special Screening: Choi Dong-hoon’s ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE London, 1 … [Read More]