Bae Su-ah embarks on US book tour
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Deborah Smith
By Yun Suh-young
Writer Bae Su-ah embarked on a tour in the United States to promote the newly released English editions of her two books, "The Essayist’s Desk" and "A Greater Music," according to the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea), Wednesday.
The books will be published by Open Letter Books and Deep Vellum Publishing this month and in January next year, respectively. Both works were translated by Deborah Smith, Man Booker International Prize winner for this year for Han Kang’s ‘The Vegetarian.’
The marketing event began Wednesday and will be held through Oct. 14 throughout the U.S. in cities such as New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, and Dallas.
Bae and Smith will be meeting with readers at Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 10, Elliot Bay Bookstore in Seattle on Oct. 11, Brazos Bookstore in Houston on Oct. 13, and Deep Vellum Bookstore in Dallas on Oct. 14.
In New York, Deborah Smith participated in an Asian American Writer’s Workshop to hold a talk with Penguin Press publisher Ed Park. From Thursday through Sunday, the marketing event will be held in the Oakland-San Francisco area where the annual American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) is held. On Thursday, Bae participated in a reading at the Literary Death Match inside the Shadow Ultra Lounge in Oakland. On Friday, Bae and Smith met with readers at Green Apple Books, a publishing company in San Francisco. On Saturday, Bae will participate in the "Editing Translations" section of ALTA and Smith will participate in the "Editor’s Roundtable" session.
The publishing contract for Bae's books came when the two American publishing companies ― Open Letter Books and Deep Vellum Publishing ― visited to Seoul in 2014, upon invitation of LTI Korea. The two publishing agents are based in New York and Dallas respectively and both specialize in translated works.
During their visit, the two companies signed an agreement to publish a Korean novel every year. Writer Jung Young-moon's "Pouring Vaseline" was contracted to be published in English by Deep Vellum Publishing and Bae’s "No Owl" is scheduled to be published in 2018 by Open Letter Books.
LTI Korea plans to continue cooperation with local publishers to export Korean literature to the overseas market. For next year, Han Yoo-joo's "The Impossible Fairy Tale" is scheduled to be published by Graywolf Press.