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Conference
[SOUTH KOREA]LA LITERATURA COREANA RECIENTE DESCE LA PERSPECTIVA DE UNA LECTORA Y AGENTE LITERARIA LATINOAMERICANA
라틴 아메리카 독자 및 문학 에이전시의 시각에서 본 최근의 한국 문학
2023.06.19. ~ 06.19.
Literature provides many keys from which we can read societies. Korean society through its literature invites us to recognize its complexity and its similarities with other societies that seem so far away. These authors share a critical look at Korea that in the Latin American reader produces compassion and a feeling of deep humanity with the Korean society that has also had to go through hard and difficult times, which its current economic success does not reveal.Journalist and literary agent Vivian Lavín has interviewed many Korean authors about their novels. This has allowed her to relate the recent history of Korea and Chile, her country of origin, which share many similarities from a sociological and historical point of view.*Please refer to the schedule below for a schedule of conference events.
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Festival
[2023 SIBF] A worldwide event for book creaters and readers!
[2023 서울국제도서전] 책을 만들고, 책을 읽는 전세계인들의 도서 축제!
2023.06.14. ~ 06.18.
The Seoul International Book Fair (SIBF) 2023 will be held from June 14 to 18 with the theme “비인간, 인간을 넘어 인간으로 NONHUMAN,” bringing together book creators and readers from around the globe.Under this theme, the fair warns about the potential catastrophe that may arise from the current human-centric approach to the world, as the ongoing climate crisis continues to contribute to and expose the inequality between humans and nonhumans.Can we prevent this impending disaster by resolving inequality between humans and nonhumans? If we fail to do so, what kind of world awaits us? Reflect on these questions as you explore a new balance between humans and nonhumans, and experience their mutual effects at the SIBF 2023!*Please refer to the schedule below for events related to Korean literature and translations. -
Festival
[UNITED STATES]PEN World Voices Festival, panel with Han Kang
PEN 월드 보이스 페스티벌: 작가 한강 초청
2023.05.12. ~ 05.12.
GREEK LESSONS: HAN IN CONVERSATION WITH KATIE KITAMURAHan Kang’s Booker Prize-winning 2016 novel The Vegetarian solidified her place as a master of the surreal, and is a powerful reminder that what makes surrealist narratives so haunting is the way they illuminate concerns that are real and urgent. Kang, one of South Korea’s leading literary voices, joins the World Voices Festival for the North American launch of her new novel, Greek Lessons. Following a female protagonist who loses her voice and seeks out learning Greek as a possible remedy, the book is a poignant exploration of language, the nature of pain, and the need to move on. Join Kang in conversation with Katie Kitamura, author of Intimacies, for this fascinating conversation of the self and the myriad ways we seek to heal. -
Festival
[2023 BWF] Discover K-literature selected as Country of Focus program !
[2023 브리즈번 작가 축제] 중점국가로 선정된 한국문학을 만나보세요!
2023.05.10. ~ 05.14.
The Brisbane Writers Festival, one of the world’s most renowned literary festivals, will take place over a period of five days from May 10 to May 14. The 2023 edition will feature a wide range of writers, including best-selling authors and other influential literary figures. In 2022, the Brisbane Writers Festival launched the “Country of Focus” initiative aimed at showcasing the literature of different countries from the Indo-Pacific region. The spotlight has been set on South Korea for the 2023 edition, which will welcome some of the most prominent names in contemporary Korean literature such as Bae Suah, Choi Eunyoung, Bora Chung, and Lee Young-ju, as well as translator Krys Lee and picture book authors/illustrators Gihun Lee and JiHyun Lee. *Please refer to the “Calendar of Events” for more information about the Korean authors participating in this year’s program. -
Award
2021 LTI Korea Translation Award
2021 한국문학 번역대상
2021.12.07. ~ 12.07.
The 2021 Korea Translation Award was awarded to two works of translated literature after a thorough two-step review process evaluating 136 translated works in 24 languages, in which the first round is reviewed by a foreign expert and the second round a Korean expert. The 2021 Grand Prize in Korean literary translation went to Park In Won’s translation of Kim Young-ha’s “Diary of a Murderer”. The President of Literature Translation Institute of Korea Award for classic literature went to Kim Busik’s translation of Lee Gangrae’s “History of the Three Kingdoms 2” into Vietnamese by Ngyuen Ngoc Que. The evaluation process was as follows. The 2021 Korea Translation Award followed a set evaluation process. The first round included a panel of native-speaking editors and writers living abroad who evaluated for readability, literary style, consideration of local literature, and the like. After this process, 43 books from 20 languages were selected to move onto the next round. The second round of evaluation was done by a panel of experts in Korea who evaluated for level of understanding of the work, translation accuracy and faithfulness, artistic fidelity, and the like. This process produced 15 books from 15 languages that were selected for prize eligibility. The third round had a panel of 8 experts representing the major language groups. The 15 books on the short list were evaluated individually according to the reasons that it should be selected, then the other panelists were given time to ask questions and add their own opinions. This process helped to narrow the short list. Through this process, the judges were able to share detailed information about the translation quality of the works to be included in the final list, the status of the local publisher, and the reactions of local literary scene and readers. Since several works competed fiercely, the decision was made to select two of the best Asian and Western translations. Four translations into Chinese, Vietnamese, English, and German were chosen as finalists. The four translated works were evaluated for a final time to narrow the selection to one work from Asia and the West, leading to the final announcement of the 2021 LTI Korea Translation Award. Park In Won’s translation of Kim Young-ha’s “Diary of a Murderer” was recognized for its excellent performance in the local market and its excellent writing style that caught the attention of German readers while garnering interest in Kim Young-ha as an author. Meanwhile, Nguyen Ngoc Que’s translation of “History of the Three Kingdoms 2” was a challenging translation of classic Korean literature that was rendered smoothly into the Vietnamese, thus making it accessible for Vietnamese readers. For reference, both prize winners have amassed a wealth of experience in the translation of modern and classic Korean literature. The judges felt that these translations of Korean literature were pioneers of a new era. The first reason was the remarkably improved level of translation. The emergence of young translators who possessed the same talent for writing as the original authors was particularly impressive. As can be seen by the publication of Korean literature translations through well-known publishers who were not active in publishing Korean literature in the past, the expansion of Korean literature is diversifying and moving away from the previous practice of being limited to a small group of specific publishers. Thanks to worldwide interest in Korean cultural content, now is the time for new channels through which Korean literature may be translated and published abroad. -
Festival
2022 Seoul International Writers' Festival: Beyond Narrative
2022 서울국제작가축제 월담: 이야기 너머
2022.09.23. ~ 09.30.
Beyond Narrative
Beyond narratives lie narratives. There are people before citizens, animals before livestock, and woods before roadside trees—just like narratives. Beyond the act of writing, all boundaries are erased, and things lay there like dreams.
Some things are present yet merely imagined, like death and war.
Some things are absent but have long been imagined, like life and peace.
We do not believe in a designed future. A future that has already been narrated can’t possibly be our future. There, we’ll only encounter the present reconstructed from the past. We hope that the place beyond is out of reach of prospects and predictions based on the present.
Therefore, beyond narratives, there should be promises, not goals. We promise that we will simply exist as ourselves, standing by the birds, the trees and the stones.
New narratives always begin beyond narratives. -
Festival
2021 Seoul International Writers' Festival: Awakening
2021 서울국제작가축제: 자각
2021.10.08. ~ 10.24.
Awakening
We’ve finally come to realize that we knew nothing at all. What we knew before— light dinners, masks, warm embraces, ventilators, applause and cheers, families and friends, infected people and passers-by…
We now think about the things that have changed completely. We recognize the world in 2021, altered yet fixed, and the world of tomorrow, which will be different yet constant.
We’ve given rise to crises and misery. It falls on our shoulders overcome them.
Here, literature sets its foot down and awakens by asking itself where it should start and finish, and whose hands it should hold.
We awaken.
Awakening—we’ll start anew from there. -
Festival
2020 Seoul International Writers' Festival: Writing Tomorrow
2020 서울국제작가축제: 내일을 쓰다
2020.11.02. ~ 11.08.
Writing Tomorrow
Before falling asleep, we often become worried and anxiousabout what tomorrow may bring.At the same time, we look forward to the adventures that lie ahead.When we wake up however, we find that tomorrow is once againbeyond our reach.
How different is our life todayfrom the tomorrow that we envisioned yesterday?Will we ever be able to arrive at the life of tomorrow?
Today’s literature is yesterday’s tomorrow;what does it weave out of all the ominous premonitionsand bizarre yet enchanting dreams from yesterday?
Tomorrow and in the days that follow,we will encounter our own faces that feel unfamiliar to us.We will interact with writers from all corners of the world,who have conveyed those strange new faces in multiple languages.
You are warmly invited to participate in the 2020 Seoul International Writers’ Festival.
