Tilted Axis Press, LTI Korea and The Asia Literary Agency present Han Yujoo talking about her newly translated novel: Metafictional Murder in South Korea Free Word Centre | 60 Farringdon Road | London EC1R 3GA | www.freewordcentre.com Monday 10 Jul 2017, 6:45pm – 8:00pm | Book tickets Join one of South Korea’s hottest young authors to launch her … [Read More]
Books and literature (page 17)
An evening with Michael Breen and The New Koreans
When going to a book talk, it is all too common to find that the moderator has little knowledge of the book or its subject matter, and asks the author embarrassingly shallow questions leaving the audience and author short-changed. No such risks last night at the KCC, where the British Korean Society’s Chris Hollands conversed … [Read More]
Event news: Translation Pitch — East and Southeast Asia
English PEN, the Free Word Centre and the Asia Literary Review bring together six translators to pitch their translation projects. For Korea, Jason Woodruff pitches Kim Soom’s The Shoe – an exploration of recent history via art restoration – and Sophie Bowman presents Kim Boyoung’s I’m Waiting for You – a series of love letters … [Read More]
BKS hosts an interview with Michael Breen
We enjoyed Mike Breen’s first book – The Koreans: Who They Are, What They Want, Where Their Future Lies – and are currently enjoying this completely new and updated version. It’s full of fascinating detail as well as giving you the big picture. We were hoping to have written a review by now, but events … [Read More]
Event news: panel talk on poetry translation
In conjunction with the collaborative event between South Korean and British poets on 3 June, the KCCUK is hosting a discussion on the topic of literary translation. Panel Talk: A talk on literary translation and poetry in particular Date/Time: Friday 2nd June 2017 6:30pm Venue: Korean Cultural Centre UK Free Admission. RSVP required to KCCUK … [Read More]
A Korea focus in this week’s TLS
This week’s Times Literary Supplement (26 May 2017) contains no fewer than four Korea-related article-reviews: Min Jin Lee on Bandi’s The Accusation (Serpent’s Tail) (LKL review here), JM Lee’s The Boy who Escaped Paradise (Norton), Yi Mun-yol’s Meeting with my Brother (Columbia) and Jieun Baek’s North Korea’s Hidden Revolution (Yale) Houman Barekat on Han Yujoo’s … [Read More]
Event news: Beyond Words – South Korean + British poets in collaboration
To my knowledge this is the first London-based event in the UK/Korea Creative Futures programme 2017-18. Beyond Words: South Korean & British poets in collaboration Saturday 3rd June 2017, 7.30pm – Free Entrance Rich Mix Venue Two | 35-47 Bethnal Green Rd | London E1 6LA | www.richmix.org.uk A dynamic new collaborative project featuring new works of … [Read More]
Book review: Waxen Wings
There are plenty of anthologies of Korean translated fiction available, and many of them are edited and / or translated by Bruce Fulton, usually with Ju-Chan Fulton involved in the project too. I recently enjoyed the Fultons’ collection The Future of Silence, which reintroduced me to the format after an absence of rather too long. … [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]
Event news: Reflections on the East Asian 20th Century, at Asia House
This year’s Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival brings us two talks with a Korean interest. The first of these is a conversation between Min Jin Lee (LKL review of her debut novel Free Food for Millionaires here) and former Man Booker Prize for Fiction judge Erica Wagner. Reflections on the East Asian 20th Century Min Jin … [Read More]
Book review: Song Sokze — The Amusing Life
Song Sokze: The Amusing Life Translated by Se-un Kim Dalkey Archive, 2016, 233pp Originally published as 재미나는 인생, Kang Publishing Ltd, 1997 The most recent book to be discussed at the KCC’s monthly book club was Song Sokze’s The Amusing Life, a collection of around 50 short “stories”. None of these pieces will detain you … [Read More]
Modern Poetry in Translation – the Korean issue
The latest volume of Modern Poetry in Translation magazine has a focus on Korean poetry. The subtitle of the issue is The Blue Vein – a reference to a line from Kim Hyesoon’s work included in the volume. “Every morning the sky, the blue vein slaps you hard.” The extract is from Kim Hyesoon’s latest … [Read More]
Event news: Poetry reading by Don Mee Choi
After this evening’s poetry reading in the Coronet Theatre’s wonderful Print Room in Notting Hill Gate, Don Mee Choi will be giving another reading at SOAS, tomorrow evening. She promises she will be wearing a special costume for the occasion, at which she will be reading from her 2016 work, Hardly War. Poetry reading by … [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]
Event news: an evening of poetry by Don Mee Choi and Denise Riley
Looks like an interesting evening, celebrating the work of a Korean and a British poet, and marking the launch of Modern Poetry in Translation‘s Korean edition. Poetry @ the Print Room Print Room at the Coronet | 103 Notting Hill Gate | London W11 3LB | www.the-print-room.org 21 March 2017, 7:30pm | £10 | Book … [Read More]
Book review: The Future of Silence – Fiction by Korean Women
The Future of Silence: Fiction by Korean Women Translated and Edited by Bruce & Ju-Chan Fulton Zephyr Press, 2016, 193pp When an unexpected book-shaped package landed on my doormat in April 2016 I eagerly opened it, wondering what was inside. I was slightly less enthusiastic when I discovered that it was a collection of short stories … [Read More]