Thanks to Charles Montogomery at KTLit.com for spreading the word on this free resource available on iTunes, courtesy of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. Chae Man-sik, Yi Sang, Yi Kwang-su and others are represented in the 19-story collection, with more to come later this year. It’s a nice-looking app, with added SNS capabilities. Here’s … [Read More]
Category: Translated Korean literature (page 18)
Jang Eun-jin: No One Writes Back. Just read it. You won’t regret it.
Jang Eun-jin: No One Writes Back First published in Korea as 아무도 편지하지 않다 by Munhak Tongne, Paju, 2009 This edition Dalkey Archive 2013 Translated by Jung Yewon I can’t remember having cried at the end of a novel before, particularly one in which nothing much happens. No One Writes Back is a beautiful gem … [Read More]
“Leafie” author Hwang Sun-mi to feature in London Book Fair
We hear that up to ten Korean authors could be in town for the London Book Fair 2014. And the first name to be confirmed, in a London Book Fair press release issued last week, and reported further in the Korea Times, is Hwang Sun-mi, author of The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, which … [Read More]
The challenges of marketing and translating Korean literature explored at the KCC
Shouvik Datta reports from the Korean Literature Forum at the KCCUK on 15 October. It was an interesting and well-attended discussion at the London Korean Cultural Centre on October 15, well chaired by the BBC journalist Samira Ahmed. My own knowledge of Korean literature is confined to the modern classic “Three Generations”, by Yom Sang-seop, … [Read More]
You’ve seen the film, now read the book
The Korean Film Council recently publicised on its website the new “Book to Film” initiative aimed at bringing together the film and the publishing industries. Of course, the practice adapting a book for the big screen is almost as old as the movie industry itself, and some of South Korea’s most successful movies have been … [Read More]
K-Lit in the Korean wave: a forum at the KCC
In the run-up to the London Book Fair in 2014, at which Korea is the focus country, we can expect more literature-themed events. Earlier this year, we had Krys Lee at Asia House; there are rumours that the London Korean Film Festival this year will have a literature-themed strand; and maybe in preparation for that … [Read More]
Dalkey Archive launches the Library of Korean Literature
A bit of exciting news for those interested in getting your hands on more Korean contemporary literature in English translation: Dalkey Archive Press have been working with the Literature Translation Institute of Korea to bring out a series of 25 titles over the next two years. The first ten will hit the shops and your … [Read More]
The 2013 Annual Korean Literature English Essay Contest
The KCC hasn’t participated in the KLTI’s Korean Literature Essay Contest for a while, but you can enter the competition directly on the KLTI’s website. Essays must be submitted by the end of September, and you have a choice of three texts which you can download for free: Knife Marks by Kim Aeran, The Glass … [Read More]
Talk, Tea & Books: KCC launches a new book club
An interesting new initiative from the KCC – a book discussion group. For discussion at its first meeting, Park Wan-suh’s Who Ate Up All the Shinga? in the translation by Yu Young-nan and Stephen Epstein, which many of you will remember as the subject of the KLTI’s second essay contest. The registration deadline for this … [Read More]
Kim Sung Ok: A Literature of and for the Self – Steve Capener at SOAS
On his way to a conference on Alternative Modernisms in Cardiff, Steve Capener gives a talk on one of my favourite authors. Kim Sung Ok: A Literature of and for the Self Steve Capener (Assistant Professor, Seoul Women’s University) 14 May 2013, 5:15 – 7:00 PM Russell Square Room 4421 Abstract After he took power … [Read More]
London Book Fair 2013 – an overview of the Korean publishing market and a brief meeting with Choe Yun and Jung Young-moon
London Book Fair 2014 will see Korea as the Market Focus Country. And in 2013 Korea was there to prepare the way. The Korea Publishers Association and the Literature Translation Institute of Korea jointly occupied a stall at the Earl’s Court exhibition, displaying among other things a wide range of translated Korean literature, including a … [Read More]
Eerie Tales from Old Korea – republished 100 years on
100 years ago, Homer B Hulbert and James Scarth Gale translated and published “Eerie Tales from Old Korea”, a collection of Korean ghost stories. Now Brother Anthony of Taize has handpicked some of those tales, and Seoul Selection has republished them to celebrate the 150th birthdays of Gale and Hulbert. It’s definitely going on to … [Read More]
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]
Kim Young-ha: Black Flower – an imaginative re-telling of a fascinating byway of Korean history
Kim Young-ha: Black Flower Originally published in Korean as 검은 꽃 in 2003 This edition Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2012, 305pp, Translated by Charles La Shure Black Flower tells the fascinating story of a thousand or so Korean emigrants who sailed from Jemulpo (now Incheon) in 1905 in search of jobs in Mexico, and ended up … [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]
Kim Young-ha longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize
It’s nice to see that the book I’m currently reading, Kim Young-ha’s Black Flower (검은 꽃), has been longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize. Last year, Shin Kyung-sook’s Please Look After Mother won it. Can Korea make it two years running? At LKL, we loved Kim Young-ha’s Your Republic Is Calling You, and found … [Read More]