One hundred and six poems of self-reflection and exquisite beauty—an intoxicating blend of Seon Buddhism and French symbolism, and the first poetry collection from this essential South Korean author to appear in English That summer I stood in the centers of storms That summer my despair burst out into crimson but still I weathered the … [Read More]
Archives: Books
Here is a listing of all the books in the LKL Book DataBase, in the order we happen to have uploaded them (most recent first). For listings in order of publication, visit the DataBase home page which will take you to individual subject listings.
Teddy Bears Never Die [forthcoming]
A young girl teams up with a hatchet-wielding teddy bear to solve the mystery of her mother’s murder and get her revenge in this campy slasher from Cho Yeeun, a rising star in Korean horror. Hwa-young never believed that her mother was murdered in a mass-cyanide attack at the luxury apartment complex where she worked. … [Read More]
International Relations and the Development of Korea’s Film Industry
This book examines the evolution of the Korean film industry, presenting a comprehensive account from the early days of experimental screening to its current period of attracting increased foreign investment. Exploring the Korean film industry’s troubled past, this book covers occupation, civil war, authoritarianism, globalisation, and the continued uncertainties amidst geopolitical competition. It differs from … [Read More]
The History of Korean Popular Culture
This book is a seminal example of historical writing on Korean popular culture, based on solid data that integrates historical facts and cultural symbols within a broader analytical framework, offering insightful critical interpretation. It explores the history of Korean popular culture that has grown and developed on the foundation of modern history. The history of … [Read More]
The Courage To Die: A North Korean Woman’s Escape and Rebirth in Freedom
The Courage to Die is the powerful true story of Eunhee Park, the child of divorced parents and a mother lost to mental illness, who endured years of hunger and indoctrination in a North Korean orphanage where survival meant silence. Raised by her disabled grandfather and strong-willed grandmother, Eunhee faced abandonment, loss, and the rigid control of … [Read More]
This Burns My Heart
Chamara is difficult to translate from Korean to English: To stand it, to bear it, to grit your teeth and not cry out? To hold on, to wait until the worst is over? Such is the burden Samuel Park’s audacious, beautiful, and strong heroine, Soo-Ja Choi, faces in This Burns My Heart, an epic love story set in the intriguing … [Read More]
Kimchi Kiwis: Motorcycling North Korea
Join Gareth and Jo Morgan and their companions as they rattle and splash their way around North Korea on their epic Motorcycle Adventure. Experience with them the thrill of riding through North Korea, the hermit kingdom itself. Above all, discover with them the truth behind the headlines that define North Korea and its people to … [Read More]
Plant Lady [forthcoming]
A chilling psychological horror tale of a green-fingered serial killer. Will you dare to disrespect her plants? Moving on from a traumatic experience, Yoohee has opened up her own Plant Shop to start afresh. Rows of plants, meticulously arranged like soldiers, thrive under her green fingers; sunlight filters through the windows at just the right … [Read More]
Light and Thread [forthcoming]
In this light-filled and multi-faceted book, her first since being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, Han Kang draws together the threads of her work and life, tracing the connections between her interior and exterior worlds through a sequence of essays, poems, photographs and diaries. A book of reflections, of words and light, it has … [Read More]
Narrow Rooms [forthcoming]
A romantic thriller exploring the dark corners of human desire and isolation with quiet eeriness Is a fresh start truly possible? Or will society’s strictures and your own impulses keep re-creating the same messed-up relationships in every narrow room you enter? Choi Seongmin’s Narrow Rooms follows a young woman who leaves her rural hometown to study in … [Read More]
The Pain Chasers [forthcoming]
International Booker Prize-shortlisted Bora Chung creates a remarkably fresh dystopia-within-a-utopia that explores the inextricable link between humanity and suffering. Kyobo bookstore synopsis run through Microsoft’s translation engine: A new work by author Bora Chung, who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Cursed Bunny and shocked readers not only in Korea but also around the … [Read More]
On the Eve of Goodbye [forthcoming]
On the Eve of Goodbye is an unforgettable novel from one of Korea’s most loved authors, weaving together the lives of three artists to explore creativity and human connection. Set against key moments in history – the assassination of Park Chung Hee, Korean American immigration, a Korean artist’s life in Germany, and the global pandemic – … [Read More]
Project V [forthcoming]
STEMinist mecha fantasy meets reality television in this high-stakes novel from the author of A Magical Girl Retires — a wildly imaginative tale of sibling bonds, unexpected friendship, and an existential quest to understand what it means to be human. Robotics student Kim Wooram, runner-up at the World Gigantic Mechanics Olympiad, is a world-class pilot and … [Read More]
Migration and Cross-Border Marriage in South Korea: Brokering Nationhood and Wifehood [forthcoming]
Rather than treating them as logistical intermediaries, this book reconceptualizes the role of cross-border marriage brokers in South Korea, facilitating mobility while also helping to shape narratives around gender, family, and national belonging in contemporary Asia. Drawing on multi-sited, qualitative research – including discourse analysis of brokers’ online videos, interviews, fieldwork at an NGO, and … [Read More]
State, Rural Women, and Domestication in Korea: The Aspiring Middle Class
This book explores the dynamic interactions between the state and society during the industrialization of South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s, focusing on rural women as a marginalized social group. By illuminating rural women’s interactions with the state and their aspirations for entering the middle class, it effectively reveals insights into the gender and … [Read More]
The Cultural Diplomacy of South Korea: Exhibiting the Nation in International Museums [forthcoming]
This book explores the role played by museums and museum exhibitions in South Korea’s cultural diplomacy and international projection of itself to the world. Based on extensive archival research and fieldwork in cultural diplomatic institutions across South Korea, Britain and the United States, this book charts the important role played by this form of cultural … [Read More]