Chef, restaurateur, writer, and connoisseur of Korean fried chicken, Judy Joo has gained widespread acclaim for her vibrant approach to Korean cuisine. Now, she presents her latest collection of fresh, exciting recipes in K-Quick. Korean culture is everywhere, and luckily for us, so is its cuisine. With interest in K-Food at an all-time high, there … [Read More]
Archives: Books (page 14)
This Part Is Silent: A Life Between Cultures
Longlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction A searing essay collection that explores displacement and loss, creativity and change, institutional power and progress. Born in Korea, raised in the American South, and trying her best to survive British academia, SJ Kim probes her experiences as a writer, a scholar, and a … [Read More]
Accidental Tyrant: The Life of Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was the enigmatic architect of North Korea. His life is an extraordinary tale of improbable success: once a barely educated guerrilla fighter, he rose to lead the nation at the young age of 33. Against all odds, he established a horrifyingly stable dictatorial regime, one that still struggles to provide for its people, … [Read More]
Bonobo [forthcoming]
Jin-yi devotes her life to the study of primates. One evening, she helps rescue a bonobo who has escaped from a burning villa. While holding her on her lap in the car taking them back to the Primate Study Center, an accident throws her through the windshield and a strange fusion takes place: while her … [Read More]
Green Frog
Here are fifteen pitch-perfect stories about women trying to make their own way: featuring daughters, divorcees, fox demons, a praying mantis, and . . . green frogs. A young girl reconnects with her Korean grandmother; an artist considers her connection to the Korean folktale of the green frog; a praying mantis living in a beautiful … [Read More]
Soju Party: How to Drink (and Eat!) Like a Korean
Drinking is an essential part of Korean culture, one that’s guided by a complex web of unspoken rules, deep tradition, and lots and lots of food. With Soju Party, food writer, chef, and co-owner of Brooklyn’s Orion Bar Irene Yoo has written the book on drinking like a Korean. She introduces the classic Korean alcohols and … [Read More]
Hunger
A woman sees her man murdered on the street – and time stands still. Until she cradles his corpse to her chest and carries it home, where she disinfects every inch of skin before seating herself to begin. What happens next reverberates from this realm into the next, where the man is witnessing his own … [Read More]
Broccoli Punch
A collection of short stories flirting with the surreal and Kafkaesque: a father whose ashes turn into a chatting plant, a boyfriend whose hand becomes a broccoli, a group of investigative aliens fascinated by idol culture. Yuri’s world is permeated with humour, emotions, and style, giving us a refreshing perspective into the complexities of human … [Read More]
Comics Art in Korea
In Comics Art in Korea, comics scholar John A. Lent embarks on a comprehensive exploration of the vibrant world of Korean comics, cartoons, comic strips, graphic novels, webcomics, and animation. This meticulously researched work delves deep into the intricate history, cultural significance, and artistic innovations that have shaped the comics landscape in both North and South … [Read More]
Whose Comfort? Body, Sexuality and Identities of Korean ‘Comfort Women’ and Japanese Soldiers during WWII
In recent years, international attention has been recurrently drawn to violence against civilians including sexual violence during war as a means of furthering military or political goals. The ongoing issue of comfort women has been debated not only among Asian countries including Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines but also in numerous international forums. … [Read More]
Luminous
In a recently reunified Korea, robots have integrated seamlessly into society. They are our teachers, our bus drivers and policemen. They are our lovers. They are even our children. Eleven-year-old Ruijie sifts through scrap metal in a Seoul junkyard, searching for anything that might repair her failing body. There amongst the piles of junk she … [Read More]
Against Abandonment: Repertoires of Solidarity in South Korean Protest
Across the world, protest has become a much-debated tactic in struggles against inequality, political corruption, and ecological disaster. In South Korea, protest is a ubiquitous and essential form of political expression. In 1987, mass protests forced reforms that led to democratizing government. In 2017, the Candlelight movement removed the sitting president. Beyond these spectacular national … [Read More]
Invisible Land of Love: Poems of Chonggi Mah
The collection consists of the author’s monologues and narrative poems, and a single dialogue between him and his young son. Contemporary America, Korea of old and new, and parts of world are the setting. His poems are a mixture of components that shows sweetness, beauty, sadness, easiness and honesty that no one can reject. Experiences … [Read More]
Bukchon: Poems of Shin Dal-Ja
A master of one liner, Shin Dal-Ja begins another remarkable volume of verse, Bukchon, with two one-liners, and no stanza break. Adopting this simple yet hard-to-master technique, she achieves uncommon concentration and musicality. The village called Bukchon is depicted as a regional utopia. Therein are multitudes of beautiful things: age-old trees, artwork traditional and modern, totally … [Read More]
Sukhyang’s Tale & Sugyŏng’s Tale: Two Romantic Novels from Old Korea
Sukhyang’s Tale, known as one of the masterpiece women’s narratives in the 17th century of old Korea, evolves around the love story of Sukhyang and Yi Sŏn, which takes place in heaven and again on earth. It deals with stories from Sukhyang’s ordeals of being separated from her parents during a bandit riot to her … [Read More]
Hail, Che!
An explosive collection of revolutionary poems that make the case that only poetry can save humanity. Korean poet Pak Jeong-de envisioned Hail, Che! as a textual performance that sings and dreams of revolution. In these poems, he invokes the names of more than 200 artists— writers, musicians, filmmakers, and painters—whom he considers comrades capable of saving humanity. … [Read More]