Join author Monica Macias as she explores extraordinary true story of a West African girl’s upbringing in North Korea under the guardianship of President Kim Il Sung in conversation with Jim Hoare. In 1979, aged only seven, Monica Macias was sent from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea by her father, the … [Read More]
Category: Books on DPRK
North Korea: Jihyun Park and Lindsey Miller in conversation
Join us with Jihyun Park and Lindsey Miller who have joined forces for this fascinating evening of both gripping and poignant discussion about their own experiences in North Korea and talking about their books The Hard Road Out: One Womans Escape from North Korea and North Korea: Like Nowhere Else. North Korea is an open-air prison from which … [Read More]
Non-fiction titles expected in 2022: LKL’s picks
In previous years this post has been, to a greater or lesser extent, a list of every non-fiction title I could find that was going to be hitting the bookshops in the coming year. As the LKL Korea Book Database has grown in size, including its stock of future publications, there are now far too … [Read More]
Eighteen non-fiction titles we’re hoping to enjoy this year [updated]
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Here are some of the books we’re looking forward to in 2021. For the first time in one of these posts we’re flagging the indicative cost of the titles listed here. For me, I have a psychological barrier at around £30: a book has to be offering something pretty special for me to be prepared … [Read More]
Book review: Paek Nam Nyong – Friend
When faced with a translation of a book written by a North Korean, based on past experiences you might expect material that’s hostile to the regime. Texts that have been rendered into English tend to be either defector testimonies or an occasional collection of short stories or poems by a dissident writer that have apparently … [Read More]
Review: JM Lee – The Boy who Escaped Paradise
The Boy Who Escaped Paradise J.M. Lee, translated by Chi Young Kim Pegasus, 2016, 288pp Originally published as 천국의 소년, Seoul, 2013. A fifty-year-old North Korean is found shot to death in a flat in Queens, New York; beside him is a wounded man, the presumed killer. On the floor around the bodies are mysterious … [Read More]
Some non-fiction titles we can’t wait to read in 2020 [updated]
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Outside of the wide range of upcoming literature and fiction titles, there’s plenty of non-fiction to look forward to as well. I’ve already highlighted three titles on Korean film which look worth exploring, and here’s the remainder of my 2020 reading longlist (which includes some titles from very late in 2019), split between (1) Books … [Read More]
What have we been reading in 2019? Here are the highs and lows of our reading diary
I alternate my reading, on no systematic basis, between fiction and non-fiction, trying to maintain a balance between keeping up to date with the most important new publications and working through the guilt pile of past publications that I failed to read when they came out. I don’t have time to read much apart from … [Read More]
New and upcoming non-fiction titles for 2019
Unlike my list that attempts to compile upcoming literature and fiction titles, here I’ve had to be selective in what to include, otherwise the length of this post would be unmanageable. Nevertheless I’ve almost certainly missed out some titles that I’d want to have on my bookshelf. I’ve divided the list into seven sections: Literature … [Read More]
Book review: Blaine Harden – King of Spies
Blaine Harden: King of Spies – The dark reign of America’s spymaster in Korea Mantle, 2018, 272 pp The character of the maverick cop, or even maverick spy, delivering outstanding results through unorthodox means and despite a disregard for hierarchy, is a familiar one in crime and spy fiction. Blaine Harden, who worked with Shin … [Read More]
Talking to North Korea: Ending the Nuclear Standoff
News of a book launch and talk at Bookmarks: Talking to North Korea: Ending the Nuclear Standoff Thursday 08 November 6.30 With Glyn Ford Bookmarks | 1 Bloomsbury Street | London WC1B 3QE | bookmarksbookshop.co.uk Admission £2.00 Payable on door Reserve your place here or call 020 7637 1848 North Korea’s regime is often called … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Nick Bonner’s Made in North Korea
When one thinks of North Korean graphic art, images of strident anti-American propaganda posters spring to mind. Fortunately, and in the current climate of reduced tension on the peninsula, the posters that greeted you in the first room of Nick Bonner’s exhibition at the House of Illustration focused less on stirring up national hatred against … [Read More]
New books for the summer
A couple of new books to take with you on your summer break – or, more likely in respect of the first on the list, to adorn your coffee table when you return. First, fulsomely reviewed by Andrew Salmon in Asia Times, comes Inside North Korea by The Guardian‘s architecture and design critic Oliver Wainwright … [Read More]
New and upcoming non-fiction titles for 2018
Too many books, not enough time to read them, or space to store them. Encouragingly, in a skim of the upcoming publication lists I had no problems finding plenty of books on a wide range of interesting topics. No longer it seems is the reading public (or the publishers’ perception thereof) solely interested in that … [Read More]
Event news: Undercover in Pyongyang – a discussion at Asia House
This year’s Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival brings us two talks with a Korean interest. The second of these is a discussion of North Korean issues between Suki Kim, author of Without You, There Is No Us (LKL review here) and Paul French, author of North Korea: State of Paranoia. Sin Cities: Undercover in … [Read More]
Book review: Bandi — The Accusation
Bandi: The Accusation – Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea Translated by Deborah Smith Serpents Tail 2017, 245 pp Originally published as 고발, Chogabje.com, 2014. Mike Breen, in his book The New Koreans, describes han as “a kind of rage and helplessness that is sublimated and lingers like an inactive resentment” and is often evidenced in … [Read More]