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Summer's Last Hurrah: New Book Releases for July and August
뜨거웠던 여름을 보내주며! 7~8월 신간 도서입니다
KLWAVE introduces international readers to various works of Korean literature. “New Releases” showcases works that have been published between July and August 2024, selected by Kyobo Book Centre as “Book of the Month” and by Aladin as “Magician’s Choice.”
The endless cicada cries of mid-summer have faded into the soft hum of insects, and the air, once thick with heat, now carries a cooling breeze. The blazing sun of summer has passed, and with it, autumn gently arrives. Though we may feel a tinge of regret as summer slips away, we know that after autumn and winter, another summer will come again. Like the changing of seasons, our lives move in cycles.
The new books of July and August beautifully reflect this rhythm. In these pages, both well-established authors from Korea and abroad, as well as emerging voices in Korean literature, capture the intricacies of life from their unique perspectives. They offer words that continue to draw us in, tenderly soothing the hearts of readers.
Shin Yong-mok's poetry collection, Because We Exist in an Accidental Future, speaks of a future that can only be reached by living fully in the present moment. Bae Su-ah’s novel, Whisper Sunken Garden, chases after the elusive fragments of memory, bringing forgotten emotions to the surface, as it probes deeply into the inner world of humans.
Then there are also those novels that critique Korean society with a knife’s edge. Author Cheong YE, who has garnered attention by winning several major literary awards in Korea, explores the idea of freeing oneself from self-censorship in the sci-fi mystery Orange and the Bread Knife. Meanwhile, Ha Seung-min’s Melanin, which unanimously won the Hankyoreh Literature Award, tackles the invisible yet pervasive gaze of discrimination through the story of a mixed-race boy of Korean and Vietnamese descent.
These are stories that linger, offering insights into the cycles of our lives, much like the seasons that come and go.
Renowned internationally for Dollargut Dream Department Store, author Lee Miye delineates a society shaped by everyday selfishness in her latest work Pantry. In Don’t Call Me Kind, Kim Kang offers profound insight into the duality of our existence. Jeong You-jeong, who has enchanted readers worldwide with her unique universe, continues her exploration of human desire in Eternal Heaven, the second book in her trilogy following Perfect Happiness, racing towards the ultimate extremes of human yearning.
This summer has seen an outpouring of essay collections. Boldly stepping away from the monotony of daily life, Kim Min-cheol chronicles her post-resignation journey through Paris in her travel essay A Shapeless Form of Life. In The Merry Elder, Lee Ok-sun’s debut collection of essays, we are graced with the wisdom of a grandmother who offers life lessons we’ve long awaited. Lee's daughter, Kim Ha-na, and her partner Hwang Sun-woo, together released Two Women Living Together, a work that challenges and redefines the conventional structure of family in Korea.
Brimming with Kim Youngmin's characteristic wit, Light Confessions teaches us how to maintain peace of mind amidst the imperfections of life. Lee Seung-U, who captivated global readers with Quentin, shares his method for understanding both the self and the world through intense, immersive reading in his literary essay collection, A Quiet Reading, distilled from 43 years as a novelist. Finally, Han Jeongwon’s My Fourth-Favorite Season is a poignant reflection, helping us swallow the bittersweet pill of the end of summer. This summer, as we look back at the three seasons passed, how have we changed?
Translated by Snigdha Gupta snigdhagupta9@gmail.com
Snigdha is a literary/academic translator residing in Korea. An ex-fellow of KLTI and a Korean Government scholar, Snigdha bridges gaps not only through her Korean to English translations, but also as a full-time communication specialist in the government sector.
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May-June New Releases: Sustaining, Connecting, Moving Forward
지탱하고, 연결되어 결국 나아가는 우리를 위해, 5~6월 신간 도서입니다
KLWAVE introduces international readers to various works of Korean literature. “New Releases” showcases works that have been published between May and June 2024, selected by Kyobo Book Centre as “Book of the Month” and by Aladin as “Magician’s Choice.”
The Seoul International Book Fair was held over five days from June 26th to 30th. The event was reportedly a success, bringing 20,000 more visitors than last year.
Among the visitors may have been those who came to the fair just to vainly show off themselves at the book fair on social media and didn’t read a single book they have purchased.
However, thanks to those readers who are willing to purchase books in their own ways, books and literature still exist. That is how readers are connected through books, creating a new era of literary consumption.
As we hope readers continue to firmly support and love Korean literature, we introduce some noteworthy new publications in May and June. There has been a wide variety of genres to choose from, enough to entertain both Korean and international readers.
For those interested in the fantasy genre, the latest volume of the Children of the Rune series is now available. Volume 7 of the popular series that sold over 1.6 million copies in Korea depicts the story after Charlotte learns the secret of her birth. Shaker, a time-slipping fantasy highly anticipated overseas, is a story about repeated time travel that sends a message that doing one’s best here and now is what’s most important.
There are also essays that will comfort those dealing with their own hardships in life. Kim Miok, who earned fame by recommending books on Facebook, wittily recounts her troubled life in The Tale of Miogi. Kim Hoon, the author of The Song of the Sword, published his new essay collection Wasted Years, reflecting on life and death at the age of eighty with his quintessential prose.
Dazzling poetic proses ponder upon life with their refined language. An Heeyeon, the poet of What I Learned on the Summer Hill capturing the colors of summer, has released her fourth collection, Walking in the Carrot Field, and Kim Eunji of Summer Coat published Drinking Beer From a Giant Mug. There are also works that take us to the border between life and death. Hwang Tong-gyu’s Caught In the Spring Rain contains the realizations he gained as he continues his life in his old age. The calm yet dignified words of Cha Do-ha, who passed away at the age of twenty-four, are recorded in The Hand of the Future.
In the third volume of the bestselling young-adult novel series Fifteen for the Five Hundredth Year, the story of Gaeul continues as she learns about love, friendship, and dreams in an exciting plot set in a unique world. Kkoch-nim Lee, the author of Killing Your Friend, a book beloved by young adults worldwide with its rights sold to eight countries, has completed the novel’s sequel to capture deepened characters after the first volume. The Seventh First Love by Jang Irang depicts a coming-of-age story about budding love and friendship, the two biggest universes that make up a teenager’s world.
In his first short story collection, Two People’s International, Kim Kitae, one of the most sought-after new talents in the literary world at the moment, consoles those we often see around us with a dry yet affectionate tone. Choi Jin Young, a young female writer at the forefront of the Korean literary world and the author of To the Warm Horizon, faces various issues in our lives in her own language in Things to be Written, as she always has.
Cho Yeeun of The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre has published her latest novel, Fins in the Mouth. The story of young love set in a world combining the fables of mermaids and sirens is sad yet mesmerizing. Kim Jiyun of Yeonnam-Dong’s Smiley Laundromat, of which rights are sold to fourteen countries internationally, invites the readers again into the heartwarming and hearty world of See You Again.
Translated by Joheun Lee joheunlee@gmail.com
Joheun Lee (Jo) is a literary translator from Korea. She was selected in the 2023 and 2024 Translation Academy Night Courses from LTI Korea, the American Literary Translators Association's inaugural Building Our Future workshop for emerging BIPOC translators, and the 2023-24 National Centre for Writing's Emerging Translator Mentorship for Korean-English translation.
A long-time fan of K-pop and many other subcultures, she finds herself drawn to works on related topics and speculative fiction, especially by women and queer writers. A UX Designer by day, Jo now lives with her partner and three cats in Shanghai, China.
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March-April New Releases: Journeys into the Depths of the Human Psyche
깊은 내면으로의 탐험을 담은 3~4월 신간 도서입니다.
KLWAVE introduces international readers to various works of Korean literature. “New Releases” showcases works that have been published between March and April 2024, selected by Kyobo Book Centre as “Book of the Month” and by Aladin as “Magician’s Choice.”
Life is full of vulnerability and insecurity. Even amid loneliness and despair, however, there are things that make us keep going such as love and redemption – which are well reflected tenaciously in the new works of March and April. They have the power to draw everything in, even including boredom which makes everything meaningless.
Newly released works of March and April include books translated from various languages, some by authors familiar to international readers, and others by poets and novelists whose names may be unfamiliar.
Lee Byungryul, Once in Love So Profound, Moonji Publishing Co., 2024
A reminder of the power to love again in a time when love is feared: in To Have Loved Someone So Much, the author Lee Byungryul talks about love, a common but extraordinary emotion, as honestly and steadfastly as ever. This collection of poetry is poems of love that will speak to anyone who has “ever loved someone so much.”
Park Yeonjun, Go See If Love Is Dead, Munhakdongne Publishing Corp., 2024
A hidden gem of Korean literature, Park Yeonjun of Summer and Ruby has published her fifth collection of poetry. Upon hearing the request to “go see if love has died,” (“Pheonix”) would “Cobblestone” have been more afraid that love has died, or confirming the fact that love has indeed died? Park’s new work which commemorates the 20th anniversary of her debut, Go See If Love Is Dead portrays the emotions of “tossing and turning” as we live and love. She practices the belief that it is poetry’s job to look into the “small” world, and the poet’s responsibility to look further into the bigger world – quietly.
Jo Kyung Ran, Kim Gi-tae, Park Min-jeong, Bak Solmay, Sung Hye-ryeong, and Choi Mi-rae, Foreword (2024 Yi Sang Literary Award), Munhak Sasang, 2024
The grand prize for the 47th Yi Sang Literary Award was conferred to Jo Kyung Ran’s Illeodugi. Jo, who is also the author of Tongue published in 10 countries, said the story began with the question, “If there is a child who had to spend their life cowering after being born to parents who were not ready, and who had always been an object of contempt in the eyes of others, what kind of an adult would they grow up to be?”. In addition to the grand prize winner Illeodugi which depicts neighbors living on the outskirts of the city as they come to terms with each other, the collection also includes works by Kim Gi-tae, Park Min-jeong, Bak Solmay, Sung Hye-ryeong, and Choi Mi-rae.
Kim Ho-yeon, My Don Quixote, Namubench, 2024
Kim Ho-yeon of The Inconvenient Convenience Store, which has garnered much attention for being exported to 18 countries globally, has returned with My Don Quixote. Sol’s journey to find “Uncle Don” who used to run the video rental store “Don Quixote Video” in 2003 is not only a search for someone in the past, but also a search for Sol’s own future. The long adventure makes Sol believe Don Quixote’s words that dreams are more important than money – Sol’s journey will also resonate with readers.
Choi Jin Young, Wondo, hanibook, 2024
This book provides an opportunity to go back to the beginnings of the beloved Choi Jin Young universe with over 200,000 copies sold, including Proof of Gu and To the Warm Horizon. Choi’s Why Didn’t I Die? has been completely revised and published under its original title Wondo after 11 years. By following the life of “Wondo,” for whom death would be an obvious choice or may have been the better choice, readers eventually come to the question of “how to live.” The depiction of Wondo, who desperately blames oneself for not dying, makes readers ask themselves “why one should live” and “who it is that keeps living.”
Translated by Si-Hyun Kim interpreter.sihyun@gmail.com
Shannon is an interpreter and translator with expertise in a wide array of domains ranging from literature and popular culture to advanced technology. She has provided translations for various esteemed corporations and institutions, including NAVER Corp, SBS, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, and HUFS GSIAS.
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The Pulse of Korean Literature: New and Timeless Releases for January-February
박동하는 한국문학, 새롭고 또 여전한 1~2월 신간도서입니다.
KLWAVE introduces international readers to various works of Korean literature. “New Releases” showcases works that have been published between January and February 2024, selected by Kyobo Book Centre as “Book of the Month” and by Aladin as “Magician’s Choice.”
Among the diverse works by writers beloved for many years and today’s emerging young artists, KLWAVE focuses on new releases between January and February, introducing colorful stories that will touch readers’ hearts in unique ways.
Park Wansuh, a Korean literary guru renowned for her timeless fame and whose works have been translated into various languages around the world, has returned with the revised edition of her essay collection, So As Not to Feel Love by Weight . Ra Taejoo, a renowned Korean poet known as the “Poet of Flowers” and recommended by BTS to international readers, has also published a simple yet sincere essay collection titled Because I Like It . Also, the labor poet Park Nohae, who caused a sensation in the 1980s with sales of 1 million copies of his first poetry collection, has returned with his first autographical essay, Tear-flowering Boy.
There were also remarkable works by young writers who have quietly crafted their own solid fictional worlds. Writer Choi Jin-Young, who captivated the literary world with her works Dear Sister and To the Warm Horizon, both translated into various languages, made a comeback with a new book titled Aurora: What Happens When You’re Caught? Baik Sou Linne, who has maintained her position as a novelist of light, greeted both old and new readers with the revised edition of her first short story collection, Falling in Paul, after a decade.
Meanwhile, some of today’s most candid stories are also being enthusiastically welcomed. To Decide Not to Misunderstand What I’ve Said by Moon Sang-Hoon, the creator of BDNS with 1.4 million subscribers, not only generated a buzz prior to its publication but also became a bestseller immediately after its release. Also, the million-seller writer Lee Kiju contemplates resilience despite life’s burdens in his latest work Ordinary Words, maintaining the popularity he gained from his previous book The Temperature of Language.
Some works demonstrated the power of seductive storytelling and were undoubtedly “loved”. Cho Hae-jin's I Met Loh Kiwan delicately portrays each character's pain and wounds, leading to the discovery of solidarity, freedom, and ultimately hope. This work has been getting renewed attention after being adapted into the Netflix movie My Name Is Loh Kiwan. Meanwhile, Yun Jungeun’s Marygold Mind Laundry has not only achieved bestseller status in Korea but has also been exported to 28 countries, including English-speaking ones, proving itself as a leader in “feel-good fiction.” It continues to expand its fantasy world with the new Marygold Mind Photo Studio.
Translated by Jasmine Jeemin Lee (KLWAVE - Translators Jasmine Jeemin Lee)
Jasmine Jeemin Lee is a professional translator based in Korea. Born in Texas, she grew up moving back and forth between Korea and the U.S. She earned her BA in International Studies from Ewha Womans University and graduated from its Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation. She won the 2019 Korea Times Modern Literature Translation Award and has since translated a diverse genre of Korean works into English. Her book-length translations include Lee Hyugjin’s Terms of Love (Sarang-ŭi ihae) and Lee Suyeon’s Two Friends on My Shoulders.
