The UK’s award-winning East and South East Asian literary festival returns to Foyles Charing Cross Road on Saturday 20 September 2025 for a day of conversation, workshops, book signings and a lunchtime bake sale hosted by Polly Chan’s Bakehouse fundraising for Sesame Organisation. Featured in the Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle, ESEA Lit Fest is … [Read More]
Category: General book news (page 2)
Three Korean authors at Wimbledon Bookfest
Join three unmissable new voices, Juhea Kim, Ela Lee and Park Seolyeon, as they discuss their ambitious and incisive novels that will challenge and expand your idea of Korean literature. Ela Lee’s Jaded is a searing exploration of race, power and violence, as well as how hope can light up the darkest moments, City of … [Read More]
Bora Chung: The Midnight Timetable
Hear from the author of Cursed Bunny on her new novel, The Midnight Timetable, a masterful work of literary horror from one of our time’s greatest imaginations. Bora Chung, author of the National Book Award finalist and International Booker Prize shortlisted Cursed Bunny, discusses her novel The Midnight Timetable, equal parts bone-chilling, wryly funny and … [Read More]
Hwang Sok-yong: The Voice of a Divided Nation
With a five-decade-long writing career and Korea’s most prestigious literary prizes under his belt, Hwang Sok-yong is unmatched in depicting the social and political realities of his ruptured homeland. A staunch promoter of the arts, he spent years in exile and prison. It’s a rare honour to welcome him to the Festival, discussing his remarkable life and … [Read More]
Failed Summer Vacation: Heuijung Hur in conversation with Barry Pierce
To mark the UK release of Failed Summer Vacation, the Korean Cultural Centre UK invites you to an evening of literary conversation with acclaimed author Heuijung Hur, in dialogue with editor and literary critic Barry Pierce. Failed Summer Vacation is Hur’s award-winning debut collection of short stories, first published in Korea and now introduced to … [Read More]
Luminous: Author Silvia Park in Conversation with Ela Lee
To celebrate the release of Luminous, the Korean Cultural Centre UK will host an online conversation between author Silvia Park and writer Ela Lee. Silvia Park is a Seoul-born writer whose acclaimed short fiction has appeared in Tor.com and Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. Luminous is their debut novel and is currently being adapted … [Read More]
Author Juhea Kim in conversation with Alice Robb
To celebrate the release of her new novel City of Night Birds— a Reese’s Book Club pick — the Korean Cultural Centre UK will host a special evening with Juhea Kim, international bestselling author of Beasts of a Little Land. In conversation with acclaimed author and journalist Alice Robb, Juhea will share the inspirations behind … [Read More]
Snowy Day – a new collection of Lee Chang-dong short stories
I’ve been following Korean literature in translation now for around 25 years. Back in the day, I’d buy everything I could lay my hands on – after all, there wasn’t much of it around, so there wasn’t much financial commitment involved. At the time, most of the literature available was originally written more than thirty … [Read More]
‘Korean Feminist Artists: Confront and Deconstruct’ – Book Launch & Panel Discussion
Explore the vibrant history and profound cultural resonance of feminist art from Korea and the diaspora at this panel discussion in celebration of Phaidon’s new publication Korean Feminist Artists: Confront and Deconstruct. Author Dr Kim Hong-hee and editor Michele Robecchi will be in conversation with scholar and curator Uta Meta Bauer, critic and theorist Rita, and … [Read More]
Book talk: Anton Hur – Toward Eternity
Renowned translator of the International Booker Prize shortlisted novel Cursed Bunny, Anton Hur returns with his debut novel ‘Toward Eternity’. Toward Eternity explores the unexpected consequences of progress, imagining when technology is catching up with biology. It is a thought-provoking novel that challenges the notion of what makes us human—and how love survives even the end … [Read More]
Book talk: The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre
KCCUK is pleased to announce the forthcoming author talk with Cho Yeeun about her novel ‘The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre’, published this month. This is an in-person event at the Korean Cultural Centre with the author Cho Yeeun joining via video-link. Join us to discover more about Yeeun’s inspirations and work. Set in a … [Read More]
International Booker book talk: Hwang Sok-yong and Mater 2-10
The KCCUK is pleased to announce an in-person talk exploring the novel ‘Mater 2-10’ with the author Hwang Sok-yong and the translators Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024, Mater 2-10 is a multi-dimensional epic tale threading three generations of Korean railroad workers. Starting with a laid-off factory worker … [Read More]
Book talk: The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories
The KCCUK is pleased to announce a talk about the Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories with the editor Bruce Fulton, moderated by Grace Koh. This eclectic, moving and enjoyable collection is the essential introduction to Korean literature. Journeying through Korea’s dramatic twentieth century, from the Japanese occupation and colonial era to the devastating Korean … [Read More]
Author discussion: A Crane Among Wolves
The KCCUK is pleased to announce the forthcoming author talk about the novel A Crane Among Wolves with author June Hur. June Hur, the bestselling author of The Red Palace and The Silence of Bones (LKL review here) crafts a devastating and pulse-pounding tale that feels relevant in today’s world. June’s novels are steeped in Korean … [Read More]
Seeing the world through different eyes: Monica Macias – Black Girl from Pyongyang
If you haven’t yet read Monica Macias’s memoir yet, do give it a try. Having attended her book talk in Richmond library in January this year (marking the launch of the paperback edition) we snapped up a copy and simply devoured it – it’s such an interesting read. Monica has been generous with her time … [Read More]
Black Girl from Pyongyang: paperback launch event
Come along to Richmond Library on 16 January for the launch of the paperback release of Black Girl from Pyongyang by author Monica Macias and co-writer, Becky Branford. This remarkable memoir details the extraordinary true story of a West African girl’s upbringing in North Korea under the guardianship of President Kim Il Sung. Join Monica and her … [Read More]