Kim Cho-yeop, who won the Best Writer Award at the Galaxy Awards, China’s science fiction literary award, with his novel collection If We Can’t Go at the Speed of Light, proved that he is loved by readers all over the world, and his first novel, The Greenhouse at the End of the Earth, showed the … [Read More]
Booklist: Korean literature in translation
Korean literature in English translation – both single-author titles and anthologies, prose and poetry. Sorted in order of publication (in their translated version), with the ones expected in the far-distant future listed first, descending to the earliest historic publications at the end of the listing.
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]
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light [forthcoming]
What makes us struggle to live in a world full of hatred, discrimination and contradictions? Kim Cho-yeop, a science student who makes biosensors, is now a writer who writes novels. Depicting an imaginary world that seems to exist somewhere but nowhere with a unique atmosphere, her first collection of novels, If We Can’t Go at … [Read More]
The Bird that Drinks Tears [forthcoming]
The Bird that Drinks Tears is a profoundly philosophical fantasy full of both tragically diabolical symmetries and laugh-out-loud hilarious moments. Four races with vastly different values, customs, and even lifespans come together to save their world, in which beings build their lives around honoring one goal, one promise, or one value above all else. Through … [Read More]
Petty Lies [forthcoming]
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN meets THE VEGETARIAN in this chilly and chilling epistolary novel of four characters locked in a frightening cycle of vengeance and comeuppance. Mira is a desperate young woman, hired by a wealthy single mother to tutor her lonesome son, Yuchan. But Mira is not who she presents herself to … [Read More]
The Moon Glow Bookshop [forthcoming]
What if you could turn the pages of your own life, like the pages of your favourite book? Somewhere along the ordinary alleys you pass by every day, a mysterious shop appears between all the other familiar buildings. Surely, you didn’t see it yesterday or the day before. A large sign reads ‘The Moon Glow … [Read More]
Island Ablaze and Other Stories [forthcoming]
Island Ablaze and Other Stories is an anthology of thirteen stories—eleven from South Korea and two from North Korea—about their complicated relationships with their most important ally and enemy: the United States. Set in times ranging from colonial Korea to the new millennium, these stories offer a look into the many ways that the US empire shapes … [Read More]
No Hand Held Mine [forthcoming]
An elderly Korean woman talking about being forced into sexual slavery during World War II. A modern Korean woman extricating herself from a failing relationship with an artist. Award-winning South Korean writer Kim Soom presents us with portraits of two women who couldn’t be more different but who both show resilience and compassion. No Hand Held … [Read More]
Flatfish: Poems [forthcoming]
In his poetry collection, Flatfish, Moon Tae-jun offers an aesthetic that emphasizes the author’s exploration of the inner self. At times sparse and allusive, his poems use blank space and other stylistic considerations to convey a voice and thought that ranges from the contemplative to the surreal and absurd. Moon’s poems suggest Buddhist ideologies, natural images, … [Read More]
Soyangri Book Kitchen [forthcoming]
Welcome to Soyangri Book Kitchen In a peaceful village in the countryside, far from the bustling heart of Seoul, lies a book lovers’ paradise. With its wafts of delicious food and book-filled shelves, Soyangri Book Kitchen is dotingly managed by its plucky proprietor Yoojin. Her aim? To create a sanctuary for weary souls like herself. … [Read More]
Alien Gods [forthcoming]
Honford Star announces some of their 2025 titles, which include three books from Lovecraft Reanimated — a series of Lovecraftian horror by leading Korean writers (including Honford Star’s first graphic novel, The Call of the Friend). The titles are Alien Gods (Lovecraft Reanimated) by Lee Soo-Hyun (trans. Anton Hur) The Call of the Friend (Lovecraft … [Read More]
The Call of the Friend [forthcoming]
Honford Star announces some of their 2025 titles, which include three books from Lovecraft Reanimated — a series of Lovecraftian horror by leading Korean writers (including Honford Star’s first graphic novel, The Call of the Friend). The titles are Alien Gods (Lovecraft Reanimated) by Lee Soo-Hyun (trans. Anton Hur) The Call of the Friend (Lovecraft … [Read More]
Come Down to a Lower Place [forthcoming]
Honford Star announces some of their 2025 titles, which include three books from Lovecraft Reanimated — a series of Lovecraftian horror by leading Korean writers (including Honford Star’s first graphic novel, The Call of the Friend). The titles are Alien Gods (Lovecraft Reanimated) by Lee Soo-Hyun (trans. Anton Hur) The Call of the Friend (Lovecraft … [Read More]
Midnight Timetable [forthcoming]
From the author and translator of the National Book Award finalist and Booker Prize shortlisted Cursed Bunny, comes a new novel-in-ghost-stories, set in a mysterious research center that houses cursed objects, where those who open the wrong door might find it’s disappeared behind them, or that the echoing footsteps they’re running from are their own… The acclaimed Korean … [Read More]
Perfect Happiness [forthcoming]
In this propulsive thriller, master of crime and suspense fiction You-Jeong Jeong, author of The Good Son, takes us to the Korean countryside in a domestic nightmare centered around the life and goals of Yuna Shin: wife, mother, sister–and covert narcissist. Everyone in Yuna’s life knows to tread carefully in her presence. Her husband dreads the … [Read More]
Art on Fire [forthcoming]
A darkly humorous and compelling satire of the art world from the author of The Disaster Tourist. An Yiji’s career had been stalling for some time when a representative of the illustrious Robert Foundation offers her a spot on their all-expenses-paid artist residency in California. The residency has launched many famous artists’ careers, so she knows … [Read More]