Five Korean writers to participate in 2023 Brisbane Writers Festival

A poster for the 2023 Brisbane Writers Festival / Courtesy of LTI Korea

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Five Korean writers, whose works gained more recognition through English translation, will participate in the 2023 Brisbane Writers Festival, which runs from May 10-14.

Founded in 1962, the Brisbane Writers Festival is the oldest continuous writers' festival in Australia and, as a large-scale literary festival, has more than 160 side events.

The Literature Translation Institute (LTI) of Korea said Chung Bora, the author of “Cursed Bunny,” which was shortlisted for last year's International Booker Prize, and Choi Eun-young, whose English edition of short story collection “Shoko's Smile” was published by Penguin, will discuss the art of short fiction in the “Why is Short Fiction Important? (South Korean Focus)” session.

Bae Suah, the author of “Nowhere to be Found,” which was longlisted for a PEN Translation Prize in 2016, and Krys Lee, a Korean-American writer and translator, will take part in a “Border Crossing” session to talk about how translation informs their writing process and the cross-cultural potentialities of literature.

“Despite the language difference, I was surprised that literature transcends national boundaries and can be delivered directly to the readers,” Bae said.

Lee Young-ju, who won the 2022 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize with her poetry collection “Cold Candies,” will take part in “Self-expression and Social Critique: Women's Writing in South Korea” session along with Chung. She will also engage in poetry reading in the “All I Have is a Voice” poetry salon.

This year, the festival named Korea as the country of focus, which was introduced in 2022 to celebrate a particular country or region within the Indo-Pacific region.

“The fact that Korea was selected as the second country of focus at such a large-scale literary festival is an opportunity to reaffirm the potential of Korean literature,” an LTI Korea official said.

“We will extend our support to introduce the dynamic and diverse landscape of Korean literature and Korean writers to the global stage.”