Recipient of the 2026 Arts Council Korea Literature Fellowship
"Even now, our hearts are expanding like the universe. So as to contain an infinite amount of beings who grow and settle down there. Could it be that we carry on living for the sake of the worlds that exist when we believe in them? Could that be the reason we meet other people? Because becoming friends with someone is to create another universe." —From If I Could Hear Your Universe (Changbi, 2025)
Choi Yang-sun writes about the in-between in lyrical language.
1. Life
Choi Yang-sun was born in 1974 in Seoul and spent her childhood in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province. She grew up in a devout Catholic household. Around age 23, she became interested in writing. She read short stories in Munhak Sasang and wrote stories of her own, before transferring to study creative writing at Chugye University for the Arts in her late twenties. After her marriage, she became interested in children's writing reading books for her children. Michael Ende's Momo inspired her to begin writing for children in earnest. Choi received the 11th Munhakdongne Children’s Literature Award for Monster Virus City in 2009 and Grand Prize at the 16th Changbi “Good Books for Children” Competition for The Village off the Map in 2011. She writes novels featuring characters hovering between childhood and puberty, between adolescence and adulthood.
2. Writing
With her debut work Monster Virus City, Choi Yang-sun was hailed as "a breath of fresh air blurring the boundaries between children's and adult fiction, stretching the possibilities of the genre on the border of SF and fantasy." She kicked off her career with The Village off the Map, praised for "creating a dreamlike yet realistic new universe combining the past and present, fairy tales and science."
Her next work, The Future of Dragons, featuring a half-human, half-dragon protagonist, unfolded the story of children on the brink of fantasy and reality. As it happens, its adolescent characters are also halfway between childhood and adulthood.
Choi is deeply concerned with the inner self, writing works notable for their sensitive and lyrical sentences. The Stars, Cats, and Us; The Room of the Moon; If I Could Hear Your Universe; and Shadow Butterfly are all such examples.
Space features heavily as the setting and the time of many of Choi's works. It is also a metaphor for the inner self. Another mainstay of the author's work is her preoccupation with Asian mythology. In Choi's hands, utterly realistic stories are told in the space between reality and fantasy. Her latest work, Shooting Love, alternates between the heavenly world of the Forest of Love and the real world, raising questions on the meaning of love.
Reference
Children's Fiction
The Village off the Map 지도에 없는 마을 (Changbi Publishers, Inc. 창비, 2012)
Monster Virus City 몬스터 바이러스 도시 (Munhakdongne Publishing Corp. 문학동네, 2012)
The Future of Dragons 용의 미래 (Moonji Publishing co., Ltd. 문학과지성사, 2018)
Novels
Your World 너의 세계 (Changbi Publishers, Inc. 창비, 2014)
In Praise of Taste 미식 예찬 (Changbi Publishers, Inc. 창비, 2017)
The Boy Crossing the Night 밤을 건너는 소년 (Sakyejul Publishing Ltd 사계절, 2017)
The Stars, Cats, and Us 별과 고양이와 우리 (Changbi Publishers, Inc. 창비, 2018)
The Room of the Moon 달의 방 (Sakyejul Publishing Ltd 사계절, 2021)
Oh Yeongseon, Householder 세대주 오영선 (Sakyejul Publishing Ltd 사계절, 2021)
Where Is Their House? 그 애 집은 어디일까 (Little Mountain Publishing Co. 낮은산, 2021)
Shadow Butterfly 그림자 나비 (Wisdom House, Inc. 위즈덤하우스, 2023)
Waiting for the Aurora 오로라를 기다려 (Changbi Publishers, Inc. 창비, 2023)
If I Could Hear Your Universe 너의 우주가 들린다면 (Changbi Publishers, Inc. 창비, 2025)
Shooting Love 사랑을 쏘다 (Wisdom House, Inc. 위즈덤하우스, 2026)
(Co-author) Why Do You Keep Following Me? (공저) 왜 자꾸 나만 따라 와 (Jaeum & Moeum Publishing 자음과 모음, 2020)
(Co-author) To Pay My Way (공저) N분의 1을 위하여 (Changbi Edu 창비교육, 2022)
Picture Books
Is Playing Games All You Want to Do? 게임만 하고 싶어? (Woongjin Junior 웅진주니어, 2020)
Reference
김지욱 소지현 지음, <극한 식물의 세계>, 그림자 나비, 2023, 위즈덤하우스.
김창인, 전명찬, 안태언 지음, <청년 현대사>, 세대주 오영선, 2021, 사계절.
로버트 베번 지음, 나현영 옮김, <집단 기억의 파괴>, 너의 세계, 2014, 창비.
롤랑 바르트 지음, 김희영 옮김, <사랑의 단상>, 사랑을 쏘다, 2026, 위즈덤하우스.
러셀 셔먼 김용주 옮김, <피아노 이야기>, 사랑을 쏘다, 2026, 위즈덤하우스.
브라운스톤 지음, <부의 인문학>, 세대주 오영선, 2021, 사계절.
임홍택 지음, <90년대생 온다>, 세대주 오영선, 2021, 사계절.
에르빈 라솔로 지음, 변경옥 옮김, <과학, 우주에 마법을 걸다>, 너의 세계, 2014, 창비.
은유 지음 임진실 사진, <알지 못하는 아이의 죽음>, N분의 1을 위하여, 2022, 창비교육.
위베르 리브 지음, 강미란 옮김, <할아버지가 들려주는 우주 이야기>, 너의 세계, 2014, 창비.
한강 지음, <내 여자의 열매>, 그림자 나비, 2023, 위즈덤하우스.
허태준 지음, <교복 위에 작업복을 입었습니다>, N분의 1을 위하여, 2022, 창비교육.
프로초프 카프라 지음, 김용정 이성범 옮김, <현대물리학과 동양사상>, 너의 우주가 들린다면, 2025, 창비.
호시노 미치오 지음, 임정은 옮김, <나는 알레스카에서 죽었다>, 너의 세계, 2014, 창비.
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