KCCUK is pleased to announce the forthcoming author talk with Cho Yeeun about her novel ‘The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre’, published this month. This is an in-person event at the Korean Cultural Centre with the author Cho Yeeun joining via video-link. Join us to discover more about Yeeun’s inspirations and work. Set in a … [Read More]
Translator: Jung Yewon
Selected translations
- Cho Yeeun: The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre tr Jung Yewon, Honford Star 2024
- Hwang Yeo-jung: The Specters of Algeria tr Jung Yewon, Honford Star 2023
- Seo Miae: The Only Child tr Jung Yewon, Point Blank 2020
- Jung Young-moon: Seven Samurai Swept Away in a River tr Jung Yewon, Deep Vellum 2019
- Choe Yun: Mannequin tr Jung Yewon, Dalkey Archive 2016
- Hwang Jungeun: One Hundred Shadows tr Jung Yewon, Tilted Axis 2016
- Jung Young-moon: Vaseline Buddha tr Jung Yewon, Deep Vellum 2016
- Jang Eun-jin: No One Writes Back tr Jung Yewon, Dalkey Archive 2013
- Jung Young-moon: A Most Ambiguous Sunday and Other Stories tr Inrae You, Jung Yewon, Jung Young-moon, Louis Vinciguerra, Dalkey Archive 2013
A look back at the books we encountered in 2023
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]
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]
Mi-ae Seo: The Only Child
Seo Miae’s The Only Child is the latest thriller to come out of Korea, following on the heels of Jeong You-jeong’s Good Son and Kim Un-su’s The Plotters. Seo debuted in 1994 with the short story 30 Ways to Kill Your Husband and won the GrandPrize for Korean detective fiction with the Dolls Garden. She … [Read More]
Where to start in Korean translated literature
Note: This article was written in early 2020 at the start of the pandemic. Since then, particularly in 2021, some fantastic translated fiction titles have appeared. We give a round-up of them here. Nevertheless, as of end December 2022 the top ten recommendations below still stand. I do, however, need to edit the choices for … [Read More]
Upcoming literature and fiction titles in 2020 [updated]
![Thumbnail for post: Upcoming literature and fiction titles in 2020 [updated]](https://i0.wp.com/londonkoreanlinks.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/upcoming-fiction.jpg?resize=120%2C120&ssl=1)
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]
Book review: Hwang Jungeun — One Hundred Shadows
Hwang Jungeun: One Hundred Shadows Translated by Jung Yewon Tilted Axis Press, 2016, 147pp Original published as 百의 그림자, Minumsa, 2010 The 2009 Yongsan apartment building disaster barely registered in the news media outside of Korea. But in its way it registered domestically much as the Sewol disaster did, acting as a rallying point against an … [Read More]
Jang Eun-jin: No One Writes Back. Just read it. You won’t regret it.
Jang Eun-jin: No One Writes Back First published in Korea as 아무도 편지하지 않다 by Munhak Tongne, Paju, 2009 This edition Dalkey Archive 2013 Translated by Jung Yewon I can’t remember having cried at the end of a novel before, particularly one in which nothing much happens. No One Writes Back is a beautiful gem … [Read More]