Author: Heuijung Hur
Translated by: Paige Aniyah Morris
Publisher: Scratch Books, expected Jun 2025
Original title: 실패한 여름휴가, 2020
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“This summer vacation is not a complete failure quite yet – there’s still a lot left we can ruin.”
The debut collection of genre-defying short stories from the Korean Literature and Society’s New Writer Award.
Seven diversely wild and gripping stories – dreamy, dark, lyrical and wry – that expose the oddness of how we live and how we might come to live. Moving between science fiction, surrealism, speculative fiction and uncanny realism, these are rich and exhilarating stories that will haunt your summer.
‘A bold, weird, brave exploration of the imagination.’ Vanessa Onwuemezi, author of Dark Neighbourhood.
‘These strange stories of isolation and longing will stay with you – puzzles you can’t quite solve.’ Jessie Greengrass, author of Sight and The High House.
‘Hur’s stories force us to reconsider our reality, trace back our memories, re-examine our lives. A unique experience.’ Bora Chung, author of Cursed Bunny.
‘Adventurous, experimental, and brimming with wit.’ Gu Byeong-mo, author of The Old Woman With the Knife
Heuijung Hur is the winner of the Korean Literature and Society New Writer Award Winner. Her work has appeared in The White Review.
Paige Aniyah Morris is the co-translator of Han Kang’s We Do Not Part.
Source: publisher’s website