Kang Young-sook (born 1967) is a South Korean novelist.
1. Life
Kang Young-sook was born in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. She played volleyball and long jump as a student athlete in her teens. She studied creative writing at Seoul Institute of the Arts. Kang made her literary debut in 1998 when she won the Seoul Shinmun New Writer’s Contest with the short story "Parworui siksa" (팔월의 식사 A Meal in August). Her published works include the short story collections Heundeullida (흔들리다 Shaken), Hoesaengmunheon (회색문헌 Grey Literature), and Dugo on geot (두고 온 것 Left Behind); and the novels Rina (리나 Rina), Raiting keulleop (라이팅 클럽 Writing Club), Seulpeugo yukwaehan telletobi sonyeo (슬프고 유쾌한 텔레토비 소녀 Tragicomic Miss Teletubby), and Burimjigu beongkeo (부림지구 벙커X Burim District Bunker X).
Since her debut, Kang has received numerous awards including the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, Baek Sin-ae Literary Award, Kim Yu-jeong Literary Award, and Lee Hyoseok Literary Award. In 2009, she participated in the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. In 2014, she was selected for the Daesan-Berkeley Writer-in-Residence Program. Rina has been translated into Japanese and English, and Raiting keulleop has been translated into Japanese. Based in Seoul, Kang teaches creative writing and works as a freelance editor.
2. Writing
Kang's first story collection, Heundeullida, attracted attention for capturing the female consciousness with grotesque imagination. Her second collection, Nalmada chukje (날마다 축제 Every Day Is a Celebration) dealt with the existential issues of life in a capitalist society from a broader social perspective. Her third collection, Ppalgang sogui geomjeonge daehayeo (빨강 속의 검정에 대하여 Black in Red) depicts in a cool, understated tone the way in which people of the modern society come to meet and understand one another. Her fourth collection, Aryeong haneun bam (아령 하는 밤 A Night of Dumbbell Exercises) is strongly colored by urban noir. The stories embody the anxiety of suffering city dwellers in mundane locales damaged by natural disasters. One of the stories from the collection, "Mullaeeseo (문래에서 From Mullae), won the Kim Yu-jeong Literary Award in 2011. The story portrays contrasting images of a female narrator living in a provincial city affected by foot-and-mouth disease and a young artist living in a major city.
Kang's first novel, Rina, begins with a scene in which twenty-two refugees cross the border. They all escape with the hope of finding a utopia in the land of P. What awaits Rina, however, is a chemical plant in the mountains, a desert-like field of salt, an isolated village, a town of prostitutes, and a large-scale industrial complex. Rina makes desperate efforts to settle down wherever she goes, but there is no place for her to stay. The journey of Rina, described with black humor as she crosses paths with those whose business it is to murder and rape, to deal in human trafficking, drugs, and prostitution, is told in a way that it is difficult to separate reality from illusion. In the end, Rina goes in the direction of another border, not the land of P, demonstrating the age-old struggle between nations, borders, and humans.
