Strangers Press, which brought us Yeoyu, a series of eight translated short story chapbooks in 2019, this week released a follow-up. The new series is entitled Iyagi and features works by both established and emerging authors – including what seems to be a posthumously published work by Park Wansuh. According to the publisher, “Each of these … [Read More]
Books and literature (page 5)
Book review: Hawon Jung – Flowers of Fire
Hawon Jung’s book is a thorough and very readable look at South Korea’s #MeToo movement and the problems of misogyny and gender discrimination that gave rise to it. Highly recommended. [Read More]
Sang Young Park, Anton Hur and Simon Lam on Love in the Big City
KCCUK is pleased to announce an in-person talk about the novel Love in the Big City with the author San Young Park and the translator Anton Hur. A fresh and unique debut novel by the bestselling young star of Korean queer fiction, Love in the Big City is an energetic, joyful, and moving novel that … [Read More]
Book review: Cheon Myeong-kwan — Whale
The Man Booker International Prize started in its current annual form in 2016 and was famously won that year by Han Kang and Deborah Smith with The Vegetarian. Since then, hopes of a Korean repeat success have been kept alive with titles in the longlist (At Dusk (2019), Love in the Big City (2022)) and … [Read More]
Book review: Make, Break, Remix
Trying to encapsulate a country’s design aesthetic, even when looking back at the past, is a challenge. With Korea, one might start suggesting that the monochrome art movement of the last 50 years or so, the simplicity of hanok architecture and the purity of Joseon dynasty white porcelain points towards an overriding aesthetic of restraint … [Read More]
Love in the Big City – Sang Young Park and Anton Hur in conversation
Libreria is thrilled to welcome a star of Korean fiction, Sang Young Park, and brilliant translator, Anton Hur, as they discuss Love in the Big City – a fresh and unique debut novel, longlisted for the 2022 Internatioal Booker Prize. Love in the Big City is about queers and Catholicism, women, abortion, STDs, and the … [Read More]
What an AI-generated book review looks like
The latest version of of the invaluable Jetpack WordPress plugin, released today, has a new feature: an AI module that writes blog posts for you if you are feeling lazy. So I typed in the following text and hit the “send” button: Please write a review of Han Kang’s novel “Greek Lessons” This is because … [Read More]
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]
May Literature Night special: book talk with Cheon Myeong-kwan
Cheon Myeong-kwan, author of Whale, is a Korean novelist, screenwriter and director whose work has been translated into eight languages. Set in a remote Korean village, Whale follows three mythical characters with interlinked lives: Geumbok, who has been chasing an indescribable thrill ever since she first saw a whale crest in the ocean; her mute daughter, Chunhui, who … [Read More]
Overcoming Barriers: Korea in Translation
Brother Anthony (who has been publishing translations of Korean poetry and fiction since 1990) will begin by talking about some of the books by which Korea and its region first became known in centuries past, books that were translated from and into a variety of languages. He will then review the ways in which Korean … [Read More]
Have purple raccoons ever floated in YOUR dreams?
I’ve started, very belatedly, to resume my Korean language studies, which originally began, and paused, around 15 years ago at the Korean Cultural Centre in London. I was in their first intake for the beginners’ language class, and I met people there that I’ve stayed in touch with ever since. Back in 2008 the KCC’s … [Read More]
Yun Ko-eun on the humour to be found in nightmarish scenarios
The moderator was late, misdirected by a faulty map app. The interpreter’s pen ran out of ink, as did a replacement pen supplied by a member of the audience. A warning message popped up on screen warning those present that the KCC’s laptop battery was getting low. The PA system didn’t seem to be working. … [Read More]
Han Kang: Greek Lessons launch event
Han Kang, author of The Vegetarian, launches a powerful new novel about the saving grace of language and human connection, in conversation with Octavia Bright. Greek Lessons tells the story of two ordinary people brought together at a moment of private anguish – the fading light of a man losing his vision meeting the silence of a … [Read More]
Book launch: The Korean Book of Happiness
From the very first moment she set foot in South Korea, Barbara Zitwer, literary agent to some of the most celebrated, prize-winning Korean authors, fell head-over-heels in love, discovering there a renewed sense of happiness and energy. In this fascinating book, Zitwer shares all that she has learnt about this vibrant country, forged by the … [Read More]
Korean Literature Night: Yun Ko-Eun in conversation with Sharlene Teo
Yona has been stuck behind a desk for years working as a programming coordinator for Jungle, a travel company specialising in package holidays to destinations ravaged by disaster. When a senior colleague touches her inappropriately she tries to complain, and in an attempt to bury her allegations, the company make her an attractive proposition: a … [Read More]
February Literature Night: The Age of Doubt by Pak Kyongni
The Age of Doubt collects some of Pak Kyongni’s most famous works, including her 1955 debut and other stories featuring characters that would appear in her 21-volume epic, T’oji. Many of Pak’s stories reflect her own turbulent experiences during the period following the Korean war and the various Korean dictatorships throughout the twentieth century. Pak … [Read More]