As a lot of us are likely to be spending more time at home over the next few weeks, I thought it would be a good opportunity to set out a list of recommendations for Korean literature in translation to keep you entertained while you’re unable to go out much. This was prompted in part […]
Translators: Deborah Smith
Review: Bae Suah — Untold Night and Day
Bae Suah: Untold Night and Day Translated by Deborah Smith Jonathan Cape 2020, 152pp Originally published as 알려지지 않은 밤과 하루, Jaeumgwa Moeum, 2013 Let me say up-front that I have never regarded myself as a Bae Suah fan. My first encounter with her – Highway with Green Apples – registers in my memory as […]
Upcoming literature and fiction titles in 2020 [updated]
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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 […]
On reading Han Kang’s White Book by the pool
In general, I tend not to read much literary fiction. If I’m reading stuff which is unrelated to Korea, it’s likely to be either non-fiction or easy reading – a detective story or something reasonably lightweight. When it comes to Korea-related reading, until relatively recently the balance has again been in favour of non-fiction. But […]
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 […]
Event news: Deborah Smith on translating Bae Suah
Deborah Smith’s latest Bae Suah translation, Recitation, is now available in bookshops. This month you have the opportunity to hear some of the challenges of translating it, courtesy of SOAS’s Centre for Translation Studies: Close to a State of Linguistic Weightlessness: On Translating Bae Suah Dr Deborah Smith (Korean-English translator, Publisher/Editor at Tilted Axis Press) […]
Why Han Kang’s Human Acts is likely to be my book of the year
Han Kang: Human Acts Translated by Deborah Smith Portobello Books, 2016, 224pp Originally published as 소년이 온다, Changbi Publishers Inc, Seoul, 2014 Han Kang’s Human Acts hits the bookshelves in the UK just as The Vegetarian starts to make waves in the US. The latter book has already made its mark in the UK, making […]
Deborah Smith wins Literary Translation award.
Han Kang says she’s “amazing”. Deborah Levy says she’s “obviously a genius”. And now, congratulations to Deborah Smith for winning The Arts Foundation Literary Translation Award 2016. According to the TLS blog, the award comes with a £10,000 bursary which Deborah plans to use “to fund research into the Korean author Yi Chong-jun” (Your Paradise, […]
Book Review: Ahn Do-hyun — The Salmon Who Dared to Leap Higher
Ahn Do-hyun: The Salmon Who Dared to Leap Higher Panmacmillan 2015, 122pp Translated by Deborah Smith Originally published as 연어, Munhakdongne, 1996. Ahn Do-hyun is a bestselling poet and this is his first novel to be translated into English. The English title for this translation is an interesting one – clearly echoing the English title […]
Book review: Han Kang — The Vegetarian
Han Kang: The Vegetarian Translated by Deborah Smith Portobello Books, 2015, 183pp Originally published as 채식주의자, Seoul 2007 Sometimes, reading translated Korean literature can be a bit of a private affair. You read it, you maybe enjoy it and appreciate it, but you think twice about recommending it to a non Koreaphile; or if you […]
KWK Talk: A Korean Literary Evening with Deborah Smith, 4 Aug
One of two discussions on aspects of contemporary Korean culture as part of Kingston Welcomes Korea – the other featuring Colette Balmain on the vengeful ghost in Korean movies. Deborah Smith’s translation credits include Han Kang’s The Vegetarian as well as Ahn Do-hyun’s fable mentioned below. The venue is New Malden Library – conveniently close […]
Han Kang and Deborah Levy in conversation with Deborah Smith
When Han Kang appeared at an event with Shin Kyung-sook on day 2 of the 2014 London Book Fair we were treated to a sneak preview of the cover artwork of the English translation of The Vegetarian. It was hot off the press: the book’s translator Deborah Smith had been sent some samples that very […]
London Book Fair 2013 – an overview of the Korean publishing market and a brief meeting with Choe Yun and Jung Young-moon
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 […]
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 […]