Another year of intermittent lockdown and social distancing measures, and once again The Drawing Hand has risen to the challenge of creating a suitable seasonal image for LKL’s readers. It’s difficult to see how things are going to change much over the coming months. But we have our enthusiasms and friendships to sustain us. So, … [Read More]
Category: Seasonal posts (page 2)
Eighteen non-fiction titles we’re hoping to enjoy this year [updated]
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]
Literature and poetry in translation titles for 2021: more than a dozen to look forward to!
This is now LKL’s fifth annual post that looks at the literature and fiction titles we’re looking forward to over the coming twelve months. Since last year we’ve made things easier for ourselves by investing some time building a book database that aims to catalogue all physical publications of Korean literature in translation, as well … [Read More]
Kim Jong Un’s 2021 New Year letter
Kim Jong Un’s 2021 New Year message is simple and brief, taking the form of a hand-written letter to his people. Below is the official release sourced from the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. The Rodong Sinmun has also posted on its website a facsimile of the letter, and an image of Kim Jong … [Read More]
A review of the Korean cultural year 2020
It would be an understatement to say that the cultural year 2020 has been markedly different from previous years. The pandemic has had a huge impact on the cultural scene, with most live events cancelled and event promoters falling back on the internet to provide us with our cultural fixes. Some of these attempts have … [Read More]
A look back at our 2020 reading diary
Like many readers, we started the year with good intention of blitzing through the pile of new titles that were promised for the coming months, as well as making inroads into the backlog. And we genuinely got off to a good start with a string of fun K-thrillers, some of them new, some not: The … [Read More]
Season’s greetings to all our readers
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all of LKL’s readers, friends and contributors. Have a peaceful break with as many of your nearest and dearest as you are permitted to see, and whatever you do stay safe. When I wrote a similar post this time last year I expressed the wish that … [Read More]
Some non-fiction titles we can’t wait to read in 2020 [updated]
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]
Celebrate the lunar new year at Whitehall Historic House
Are you looking forward to celebrating the start of the Year of the Rat? Try out some family-friendly traditional Korean New Year activities at Whitehall Historic House in Cheam, courtesy of Sutton Cultural Services. And when you get home from there, why not try cooking tteokguk? Maangchi’s recipe is dead easy and tastes great. I … [Read More]
Upcoming literature and fiction titles in 2020 [updated]
I’m hoping that, as in previous years, by posting my own list of upcoming literature and fiction titles – pulled together by some targeted searching on Amazon and a trawl through Barbara J Zitwer’s website – I might persuade others to supplement it from their own specialist knowledge. Whatever happens, books inevitably fall through the … [Read More]
Kim Jong Un’s 2020 New Year message
Notes of a speech given by Chairman Kim Jong Un at the Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea serves as this year’s New Year address. Text sourced from dprktoday.com Report on 5th Plenary Meeting of 7th C.C., WPK Pyongyang, January 1 (KCNA) — The 5th Plenary Meeting of the … [Read More]
A review of the Korean cultural year 2019
A review of some of the highlights and trends in the Korean cultural year, primarily in London but also with half an eye to anything we might have seen elsewhere in the UK. The review is a personal one, inevitably skewed towards the events we managed to get to. Introduction This time last year I … [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]
Season’s greetings to all our readers
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all of LKL’s readers, friends and contributors. Have a peaceful break, and may 2020 turn out better than 2019. As in previous years, thanks are due to Jieun Kim aka The Drawing Hand for the London Korean Christmas design which adorns the cards that some of … [Read More]