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Choi Il-nam (born 1932) is a South Korean writer. Life      Born in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Choi Il-nam graduated from Seoul National University in 1957 with a degree in Korean language and literature. He received his Ph.D. in Korean literature from Korea University in 1960 and embarked on a career that combined journalism and fiction writing. He served as the head of the culture department at Minguk Daily, the Kyunghyang Shinmun, and the Dong-a Ilbo, the last at which he held the position of editor-in-chief until 1980.     Choi made his literary debut in 1953 when his short story "Ssuk iyagi" (쑥 이야기 On Mugwort) was recommended to the literary journal Munye. He is the recipient of the Woltan Literary Award for Seoul saramdeul (서울 사람들 People of Seoul) and the Yi Sang Literary Award for Heureuneun buk (흐르는 북 Drum Roll), among others. Writing     After publishing fewer than two dozen stories in the 1950s and 1960s, Choi became more prolific in the 1970s, which featured his first book of fiction, Seoul saramdeul. Choi Il-nam's fiction falls into two broad categories. His works prior to 1980 often portray a person from the countryside coming to the rapidly urbanizing and industrializing city where they succeed in building a new life. Despite the characters’ success, however, the industrializing city is always shown to be founded on the relative poverty of the countryside, pointing to the sacrifice of the latter in achieving the success of the former.     In his early novels, Choi wished to show the dark side of industrial development. Following his forced dismissal from journalism in 1980, Choi's stories shifted to a more intense criticism of social reality. But rather than landing sharp attacks on society, his later works are constructed so as to point to everyday human egotism existing in pockets across the social landscape, or to describe powerless individuals alienated by power. <div style="text-align: justify; "> </div>