London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Author: Chiyoung Kim

Selected translations by Chiyoung Kim

Book review: Cheon Myeong-kwan — Whale

posted by Philip Gowman 4 minute read

The Man Booker International Prize started in its current annual form in 2016 and was famously won that year by Han Kang and Deborah Smith with The Vegetarian. Since then, hopes of a Korean repeat success have been kept alive with titles in the longlist (At Dusk (2019), Love in the Big City (2022)) and … [Read More]

May Literature Night special: book talk with Cheon Myeong-kwan

event date Fri 19 May 2023 venue KCCUK posted

Cheon Myeong-kwan, author of Whale, is a Korean novelist, screenwriter and director whose work has been translated into eight languages. Set in a remote Korean village, Whale follows three mythical characters with interlinked lives: Geumbok, who has been chasing an indescribable thrill ever since she first saw a whale crest in the ocean; her mute daughter, Chunhui, who … [Read More]

A look back at our 2022 reading diary

posted updated 27 Dec 2023 by Philip Gowman 4 minute read

It was a busy year outside of my Korean interests, with the result that I didn’t read as much as I would like. And of the titles that I did read, I haven’t had a chance yet formally to write up my thoughts – though there are several half-written reviews which may eventually see the … [Read More]

Children’s books – the latest translation trend?

posted by Philip Gowman 2 minute read

In this month’s edition of World Literature Today, Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp draws attention to a number of recent publications of translated children’s books coming from Korea. She speculates: The interest in the Korean children’s market may have been spurred by innovative illustrator, animator, and artist Baek Heena being named the 2020 laureate of the Astrid … [Read More]

A look back at our 2021 reading diary

posted updated 2 Jan 2023 by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

Looking back at this year, it’s been one of the best for new translations of Korean literature that I can remember. There have been at least ten new fiction titles, and unusually for me I managed to get through all the titles I was intending to. All of them are recommendable in their different ways. … [Read More]

Literature and poetry in translation titles for 2021: more than a dozen to look forward to!

posted updated 7 Nov 2021 by Philip Gowman 8 minute read

This is now LKL’s fifth annual post that looks at the literature and fiction titles we’re looking forward to over the coming twelve months. Since last year we’ve made things easier for ourselves by investing some time building a book database that aims to catalogue all physical publications of Korean literature in translation, as well … [Read More]

A look back at our 2020 reading diary

posted updated 7 Apr 2021 by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

Like many readers, we started the year with good intention of blitzing through the pile of new titles that were promised for the coming months, as well as making inroads into the backlog. And we genuinely got off to a good start with a string of fun K-thrillers, some of them new, some not: The … [Read More]

Where to start in Korean translated literature

posted updated 21 Mar 2023 by Philip Gowman 14 minute read

Note: This article was written in early 2020 at the start of the pandemic. Since then, particularly in 2021, some fantastic translated fiction titles have appeared. We give a round-up of them here. Nevertheless, as of end December 2022 the top ten recommendations below still stand. I do, however, need to edit the choices for … [Read More]

Book review: Marilyn and Me

posted updated 7 Apr 2021 by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

Ji-min Lee: Marilyn and Me Translated by Chi-young Kim HarperCollins / 4th Estate 2019, 176pp Originally published as 나와마릴린, 2009 “Where did all the beautiful and hopeful young women go?” That was the thought that occurred to author Ji-Min Lee, looking back at the grim post-war years, and looking at a couple of photographs from … [Read More]

Review: JM Lee – The Boy who Escaped Paradise

posted updated 7 Apr 2021 by Philip Gowman 2 minute read

The Boy Who Escaped Paradise J.M. Lee, translated by Chi Young Kim Pegasus, 2016, 288pp Originally published as 천국의 소년, Seoul, 2013. A fifty-year-old North Korean is found shot to death in a flat in Queens, New York; beside him is a wounded man, the presumed killer. On the floor around the bodies are mysterious … [Read More]

Jeong You-jeong in conversation at Foyles

event date Sat 03 Nov 2018 venue Foyles posted

As part of Foyles’s Korean Culture Month, leading South-Korean author Jeong You-Jeong (Seven Years of Darkness) joins them for a discussion about her work and to read from her latest novel The Good Son. Yu-jin wakes up covered in blood. There’s no sign of a break in and there’s a body downstairs. It’s the body of someone … [Read More]