In a mysterious town that lies hidden in our collective subconscious, there’s a quaint little store where all kinds of dreams are sold . . . Day and night, visitors both human and animal from all over the world shuffle in sleepily in their pyjamas, lining up to purchase their latest adventure. Each floor in … [Read More]
Booklist: Korean literature in translation (page 9)
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
There was only one thing on her mind. I must start a bookshop. Yeong-ju did everything she was supposed to, go to university, marry a decent man, get a respectable job. Then it all fell apart. Burned out, Yeong-ju abandons her old life, quits her high-flying career, divorces her husband, and follows her dream. She … [Read More]
The Owl Cries
From the Shirley Jackson Award–winning author of The Hole, a slow-burning noir thriller with a touch of horror and the uncanny. A lawyer asking questions. A disappearance. And a vast forest in the mountains—the western woods—where the trees huddle close together, emanating a crushing darkness, while a chill dampness fills the air. The forester, Bak … [Read More]
Love and the Beginning (K-Poet 33)
Kwon’s third collection of poems, Love and Beginning, has been published in 33 volumes in the K-Poet series. Poet Kwon Park received a lot of attention when he won the Kim Sooyoung Literary Award for 『It’s My Turn to Understand』 and expanded the world of his own work through his second collection of poems, 『Is … [Read More]
A Mirror for The Blind: Reflections of a Digital Seoul
Discover the Realities of Contemporary Korea “Hi, nice to meet you. This is my third blind date this week, so… let’s get the usual stuff out of the way and decide where to go from there. Great, I’ll start. First, what’s your age? Your academic background? How much do you make? And your parents? How … [Read More]
Am I Not Your Sin (K-Poet 31)
As the 31st volume of the K-Poet series, poet Choi Ji-in’s 『Isn’t Your Sin Me?』 was published. This is her third collection of poems after “I Slept Against the Wall” and “Work, Work, Love.” If his previous collection of poems specifically portrayed the voices of the young generation living in the 21st century, in this … [Read More]
Poverty Must Persist (K-Poet 32)
As the 32nd volume of the K-Poet series, Kim Sai’s 『Poverty Must Be Maintained』 was published. This is her third collection of poems after “The Day I Quit Reflecting” and “I Say I’m Not Doing Anything.” As a poet who desperately portrayed the absurdity of the workplace and the reality of female workers suffering doubly … [Read More]
The Naked Tree
A delicate, timeless, and breathtaking coming-of-age classic, reimagined Critically acclaimed and award-winning cartoonist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim returns with a stunning addition to her body of graphic fiction rooted in Korean history. Adapted from Park Wan-suh’s beloved novel, The Naked Tree paints a stark portrait of a single nation’s fabric slowly torn to shreds by political upheaval and armed … [Read More]
Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories
A woman is born. A woman is filmed in public without consent. A woman suffers domestic violence. A woman is gaslit. A woman is discriminated against at work. A woman grows old. A woman becomes famous. A woman is hated, and loved, and then hated again. Written in Cho Nam-Joo’s masterful, razor-sharp prose, Miss Kim … [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]
Knockoff Viagra & Jeje
“I had been called to pick up Jeje from a karaoke bar in Jongno district…” A deftly expressive short modern love story concerning the misadventures of Hyoung and Jeje as they navigate the Seoul underworld in search of something more from life with lots to say about our contemporary moment; how people use and are used by others, but … [Read More]
Take My Voice
“The bloodstains on the linoleum were impossible to remove completely.” A madcap, sci-fi, found-family caper set in a world where a small group of people, known as ‘monsters’, have developed odd special powers or traits necessitating their voluntary, or less voluntary, incarceration while the state works out what to do with them and which builds to a wonderfully comic set-piece, charmingly … [Read More]
Towards 0%
“Despite the hordes of people packing the theatre that day, I can’t remember a single face.” An extended meditation on the world of Korean cinema, the blockbuster versus the independent artist, its trends and its characters and role in society, seen through the eyes of a film enthusiast narrator and their interactions with those around them, each … [Read More]
Kyoko and Kyoji
“My name is きょうこ, Kyoko, I am Korean … I have something important to tell you.” A subtly disorienting story of reminiscences between a mother and daughter as they each in their own way struggle with the effects of the mother’s encroaching dementia. As they each try to piece together the fragments of a traumatic history, through doing so they tell … [Read More]
The Greatest Gamble On Earth
“If I had to choose the richest person whom I would call a friend, I would pick Han Seung-hui.” A reconnection with an old friend leads to an intriguing party invite with surprising results and, through this simple tale and the progress of a single relationship, but from separate and very different worlds, a deeper story is told of contemporary society and class. About the … [Read More]
Walk With A Goddess
“Are you referring to the ‘strange and sorrowful coincidences’? That’s what I call them. I don’t know what you’ve heard, but they’re no ordinary, everyday thing, just so we’re clear.” A young woman rumoured to be possed of a strange supernatural ability and a young man take a walk. As she tells him her story … [Read More]