Rina Kim is a consultant and translator who was born in Seoul and grew up going back and forth between the U.S., Korea and England. She studied French and Russian as an undergraduate at Cambridge University before moving on to law at Duke University School of Law. She is a U.S.-licensed attorney and a member of the New York Bar.
As Kim enjoyed reading Korean literature, she started translating works that she particularly enjoyed, beginning in 2019.
Kim translated Kwon Yeo-sun's "The Aunt" for the translation contest.
"Kwon Yeo-Sun is one of my favorite Korean writers and I found The Aunt particularly moving,” Kim said. “Certain aspects of the story also reminded me of my own aunt, Sister Monica Kim of the Poor Clares, a wonderful and very loving person, who became a Catholic nun. She passed away a few years ago and I translated the story partly to commemorate her.”
Kim tried to convey the tone of the short story in her translation.
"I think a good literary translation is not only accurate, but also has a fluency in the tone and style that makes you almost forget you are reading a translation," she said.