'Zitwer factor': Before her, few readers outside Korea heard about Korean thrillers
New York-based literary agent Barbara Zitwer / Courtesy of Barbara ZitwerNew York-based literary agent recently inked a flurry of deals with big Western publishers to release Korean novels globally By Kang Hyun-kyungExporting Korean novels is a delicate and time-consuming job that requires network with big Western publishers as well as a significant level of knowhow in pitching translated books to them. Adding to the complexity, several different groups of people become heavily involved in the pre-publication process before the translated books eventually go on sale in local bookstores.Literary translators are the first batch of specialists taking part in the pre-publication process. Unlike other translators who convert Korean into foreign languages verbatim, literary translators are given some room to modify original texts to help readers of target languages easily understand the context of the novel.Once their partial or entire translation of the book is completed, the ball is in the literary agents' court.The role of literary agents is pivotal, partly because they are responsible
