When it comes to fiction, 2023 was a year that defied my expectations. Those novels that I hoped or expected to enjoy turned out to be disappointments; those that I thought might be heavy going turned out to be enjoyable. It was a reminder to try better to abide by the maxim of approaching a … [Read More]
Translator: Jamie Chang
Selected translations
- Cho Nam-joo: Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories tr Jamie Chang, Scribner 2023
- Cho Nam-joo: Saha tr Jamie Chang, Scribner 2022
- Kim Hye-jin: Concerning My Daughter tr Jamie Chang, Picador 2022
- Cho Nam-joo: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 tr Jamie Chang, Scribner 2020
- Baek Young-ok: How to Break Up Like a Winner (K-Fiction 024) tr Jamie Chang, Shin Hye-bin, Asia Publishers 2019
- Anthology: Silvery World and Other Stories ed Michael J Pettid, Cornell East Asia Series 2019
- Sohn Won-pyung: April Snow (K-Fiction 021) tr Jamie Chang, Asia Publishers 2018
- Kim Keum-hee: Everything About Chess (K-Fiction 017) tr Jamie Chang, Asia Publishers 2017
- Choi Eun-young: The Summer (K-Fiction 016) tr Jamie Chang, Asia Publishers 2017
- Kim Aeran: Where Would You Like To Go? (K-Fiction 014) tr Jamie Chang, Asia Publishers 2016
- Son Hong-kyu: Tuesday River (Bi-lingual, Vol 80 – Fate) tr Jamie Chang, Asia Publishers 2014
- Son Bo-mi: Hot Air Balloon (K-Fiction 003) tr Jamie Chang, Asia Publishers 2014
- Yi Mun-gu: A Brief Biography of Yuja (Bi-lingual, Vol 37 – Tradition) tr Jamie Chang, Asia Publishers 2013
- Seo Chong-in: Three Days of Autumn, 1948 (Bi-lingual, Vol 36 – Tradition) tr Jamie Chang, Asia Publishers 2013
- Kim Aeran: Christmas Specials (Bi-lingual, Vol 35 – Seoul) tr Jamie Chang, Asia Publishers 2013
- Yi Mun-yol: Pilon’s Pig (Bi-lingual, Vol 16 – Liberty) tr Jamie Chang, Asia Publishers 2013
Review: Cho Nam-joo – Saha
After the domestic success of Kim Ji-young (2016; English translation by Jamie Chang published in 2020), and of its encouraging sales overseas, it was natural that Cho Nam-joo’s next novel would attract interest. Accordingly, Saha had a slightly shorter journey from Korean into English: after an original publication date in 2019 its English translation came … [Read More]
A look back at our 2022 reading diary
It was a busy year outside of my Korean interests, with the result that I didn’t read as much as I would like. And of the titles that I did read, I haven’t had a chance yet formally to write up my thoughts – though there are several half-written reviews which may eventually see the … [Read More]
Book review: Concerning My Daughter
Kim Hye-jin’s Concerning My Daughter is set in a world of agency workers, where no-one has enough money, still less any job security; a world in which a university lecturer gets fired for being gay; a world in which a nursing home asks their staff to cut down on basic hygiene tasks and neglect their … [Read More]
Two doomed love affairs by Choi Eun-young and Shin Kyung-sook
A parallel review of Shin Kyung-sook’s The Place where the Harmonium Was and Choi Eun-young’s The Summer. Two vivid depictions of the joy and pain of relationships. The Summer is a straightforward and immediately appealing read; The Harmonium is more difficult but nevertheless rewarding. [Read More]
Upcoming literature and fiction titles for 2022
Last year was an amazing one for Korean literature in translation, with plenty of lively titles published. 2022 looks for the moment like it’s going to be a little quieter, but new publications sometimes pop out of nowhere, so this list of anticipated books for this year is almost bound to be proved incomplete. There … [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]
Book review: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
Cho Nam-joo: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 Translated by Jamie Chang Scribner, 2020, 163pp Originally published as 82년생 김지영, Minumsa, 2016. Kim Jiyoung, as the blurb on the back cover of this translated novel tells us, is every woman. Her given name is unremarkable, familiar, and of course her family name is the most common in … [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]