There’s a nice interview with Krys Lee, author of Drifting House, on the Asia House website. Drifting House was LKL’s book of the year last year, and so we’re looking forward to seeing Ms Lee at the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature next month. [Read More]
Category: Literature (page 5)
Meet the Authors – Korean Literature event at the KCC
To tie in with a couple of Korea-related events at the London Book Fair, the KCC is hosting an event with two Korean authors on 15 April, chaired by SOAS’s Grace Koh. Choe Yun will be known to many LKL readers as the author of There a Petal Silently Falls – the first book set … [Read More]
SOAS Seminar: The body, territory and national identity in “stories about Kubo”
Notice of the SOAS seminar on 22 February 2013: The body, territory and national identity in “stories about Kubo” by Pak T’ae-wǒn, Ch’oe In-hun and Chu In-sǒk Justyna Najbar (Warsaw University) Date: 22 February 2013, 5:15pm Venue: Russell Square Room G50 Abstract The Korean literary tradition of “stories about Kubo” (Kubo-hyǒng sosǒl) started in 1934, … [Read More]
Jeonju Film Fest to focus on Kim Young-ha
This is the kind of news I like. This year the program of the Jeonju International Film Festival will include “short films based on Korean writers’ short stories, thereby creating opportunities for good Korean literature to be introduced overseas. The focus this year will be KIM Young-ha. KIM Young-ha’s novel, I have a right to … [Read More]
The boom in literature museums
Those of you who saw Eungyo at the London Korean Film Festival 2012 may remember that the older author was talking with city officials about building a literature museum in his honour (and trying to avoid the honour). According to an article in today’s Joongang Ilbo, the building of literature museums has become rather a … [Read More]
Winner of The Story Prize Spotlight Award to attend Asia House Festival of Asian Literature
Browsing through the Asia House programme for the upcoming couple of months I saw this encouraging double-page teaser. After the appearance of Changrae Lee at the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature in 2010, they dropped Korea from their 2011 schedule. So at the end of 2011 I wrote to them to suggest a couple … [Read More]
The London Book Fair Announces Market Focus 2014: Korea
LONDON/SEOUL, UK, 11 December, 2012 — The London Book Fair and The Korean Publishers Association have announced Korea as the Market Focus of The London Book Fair 2014. The launch event at Asia House today was attended by The London Book Fair, The Korean Publishers Association and LBF Market Focus strategic partners, the British Council … [Read More]
Jerome De Wit at SOAS: Motivations for Writing during the Korean War
The final free seminar before the Christmas break is as follows: The War Within: Motivations for Writing during the Korean War Jerome De Wit (Leiden University) Date: 7 December 2012 Time: 5:15 PM Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings Room: G50 Abstract The first few months of the Korean War (1950-1953) saw dramatic shifts in the … [Read More]
Ko Un: Poet in the City — Korea’s greatest living poet in East Anglia, London and Oxford
A rare appearance in the UK of the poet who has come closest to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, but never quite made it. Ko Un will be appearing at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival on 3-4 November, in London on 5 November, Oxford on 6 November and Cambridge on 8 November. (Could he be … [Read More]
Korean authors Shin Kyung-sook and Krys Lee visit Edinburgh Book Fest
We’ve all heard of the Edinburgh International Festival and its fringe; and of the Edinburgh Film Festival. Each year there’s sure to be Korean interest at these events. But this year another festival held at the same time, the Edinburgh Book Festival, together with the World Writers Conference, hosted Korea’s two most famous younger generation … [Read More]
Translation and cultural uniqueness – another take on the KCC Literature workshop
I’ve long been interested in knowing more about modern Korean literature. So I learnt with interest about the Korean literature workshop (Tuesday, June 26, 5-7pm) and looked forward to it as I arrived for the event at the Korean Cultural Centre on London’s Strand. The evening began with a talk by Dr Grace Koh of … [Read More]
The Word for ‘여’, and the Korean for ‘About Raindrops’ – Ra Hee-duk at the KCC Literature workshop
In 21 October, 2009 KCC hosted a Korea Literature Workshop in the presence of Ch’oe Yun of ‘There a Petal silently falls’. The session, facilitated by Dr Jo Elfving-Hwang of Sheffield University, turned out to be a ‘creative’ response to the aspects of the author’s work. It was something of a deja vu to turn … [Read More]
The challenges of translation addressed at All Eyes on Korea literature talk
On 26 June, the KCC UK Korean Literature Workshop opened with a KCC official’s welcoming speech followed by Dr Grace Koh’s lecture (SOAS). Dr Koh emphasized the paramount importance of national identity in post-colonial literature. To introduce Korean literary works to the English-speaking world, we need to understand the issues surrounding translation. They are reception … [Read More]
Korean Literature Workshop: Understanding Korean Literature in Global Contexts
What a good idea. Ever since the KCC stopped its participation in the Korean literature essay contest, we haven’t had much focus on Korean literature other than the book launch for Park Kyung-ni’s T’oji. So as part of the KCC’s All Eyes on Korea celebration of Korean culture during the London Olympics we’re getting a … [Read More]
Korean poets perform in London
As part of the South Bank Centre’s Poetry Parnassus, two Korean poets will be appearing later this month in London and elsewhere. The event, part of the Cultural Olympiad, is designed to bring together writers from every Olympic nation for the 2012 celebrations. Representing South Korea is Kim Hye-soon: Kim Hye-soon was one of the … [Read More]
Huffington Post on hip-hop’s 19th century origins
Interesting piece by John R Eperjesi in the Huffington Post: Korean Beat Attitudes: Rainhat Poet and Ko Un – a feature on Kim Sakkat (김삿갓) (real name, Kim Byeong-yeon 김병연), the character at the centre of Yi Mun-yol’s book The Poet. [Read More]