Park Han-sol reports on Korea's financial regulators, along with fintech and insurance. She previously wrote about the art world, from biennales and exhibitions to fairs and auctions, with a focus on Seoul and the figures shaping the scene. Before joining The Korea Times, she spent a year at ABC News' Seoul bureau, contributing to coverage of major Asia-Pacific events.
No win for 'Your Utopia' at Philip K. Dick Award, but Bora Chung still makes history
The cover of Bora Chung's short story collection "Your Utopia," translated by Anton Hur / Courtesy of Algonquin Books
By Park Han-sol
Bora Chung’s short story collection “Your Utopia,” translated by Anton Hur, did not take home this year’s Philip K. Dick Award.
The top honor went instead to Brenda Peynado’s “Time’s Agent,” as announced Friday (local time) at Norwescon in Seattle.
Named after the iconic American sci-fi visionary, the Philip K. Dick Award has recognized outstanding works of science fiction originally published in paperback in the U.S. since 1983.
Chung made history as the first Korean writer ever nominated in the prize’s 42-year run. "Your Utopia” was also just the third translated work to be recognized, following special citations for “Harmony” by Project Itoh, translated from Japanese by Alexander O. Smith, in 2011 and "In the Mothers' Land" by Elisabeth Vonarburg, translated from French by Jane Brierley, in 1992.
Like her acclaimed collection “Cursed Bunny” — a finalist for both the 2022 International Booker Prize and the 2023 National Book Award — “Your Utopia” showcases the writer’s signature blend of the surreal and the tender. Across eight genre-defying stories, she crafts futuristic worlds stitched together with horror, sharp wit and surprising warmth.
This year’s shortlist also included Tara Campbell’s “City of Dancing Gargoyles,” Sofia Samatar’s “The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain,” Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Alien Clay” and Subodhana Wijeyeratne’s “Triangulum.”