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]
Books and literature (page 28)
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]
Krys Lee interviewed for Asia House
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]
Orphan Master wins Pulitzer
At LKL we were lukewarm, but we don’t mind being in the minority. So congratulations to Adam Johnson for winning the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, “for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life,” with The Orphan Master’s Son. Source: www.pulitzer.org [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]
Overview of the Korean Publishing Market at the London Book Fair 2013
Korea is the Market Focus for the London Book Fair 2014, and with the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature coming up next month it’s good that we have two Korea / Asia-related talks at the London Book Fair – one on Translation, with participation from Deborah Smith (@londonkoreanist) and this one, a presentation from … [Read More]
Translation flows in Asia: panel session at the London Book Fair 2013
Korea is the Market Focus for the London Book Fair 2014, and with the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature coming up next month it’s good that we have two Korea / Asia-related talks at the London Book Fair – this panel session with participation from Deborah Smith (@londonkoreanist) and the other a presentation from … [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]
Chung Hye-seung’s monograph on Kim Ki-duk is a must-read, and readable, study of Korea’s maverick director
Chung Hye-seung: Kim Ki-duk (Contemporary Film Directors series) University of Illinois Press, 2012, 161pp When is the right time to publish a monograph on a living film director? With the KOFIC collection of books, the schedule appears more driven by wanting to get a complete set of directors covered as soon as possible. For a … [Read More]
Royal Ancestors makes it onto Amazon.com
I was taken a bit by surprise when I was introduced at the KCCUK’s fifth birthday dinner as “Author of Royal Ancestors and Ancient Remedies.” I had almost forgotten. But coincidentally, a correspondent has just told me that it’s now available on Amazon.com. Some enterprising organisation has picked up a free copy or two from … [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]
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]
You followed the blog, now buy the book
You’ll probably have visited Kim Jong Il Looking at Things once in a while for some gentle entertainment at the expense of the late Dear Leader and his propaganda unit. The blog closed in December 2012, a year after his death, but now you can buy the book, from Jean Boîte Éditions, price EUR24 plus … [Read More]
John Everard launches Only Beautiful Please at Asia House
John Everard has already held a US launch of his entertaining book containing his reflections on life in North Korea – Only Beautiful Please. And LKL reviews the book here. We enjoyed it. He is now holding a UK launch at Asia House on 24 January. Only Beautiful, Please: A British Diplomat in North Korea … [Read More]
The London Korean Links Awards 2012
The seventh eclectic and highly personal commemoration of the best of the past year. Personality of the Year Runner up There were plenty of personalities in the South Korean Olympic team, particularly the pistol shooters, archers and the gymnasts. But the athlete that everyone will remember is fencer Shin A-lam, cheated out of a place … [Read More]
Book Review: John Everard – Only Beautiful Please
Only Beautiful Please – a British Diplomat in North Korea John Everard Asia/Pacific Research Center, Div of The Institute for International Studies, 2012, 250pp It is always with a sense of duty rather than eager anticipation that I pick up a book on the DPRK, regardless of who the author is. To the extent that … [Read More]