More Korean fiction finds its way to global shelves

Han Kang, a Nobel Prize laureate in literature, speaks during a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Dec. 6, 2024. Yonhap

Korean literature was admired by a wider world last year as overseas sales of translated titles more than doubled, buoyed by the Han Kang’s Nobel Prize and a broader range of genres being published, the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) said Wednesday.

Korean literary works published with the help of grants from the state-run agency sold more than 1.2 million copies abroad in 2024, a 130 percent leap from 520,000 the year before.

Both the volume of published books and total sales saw a dramatic rise. The average number of copies sold per title reached an all-time high of 1,271, with 24 books surpassing the 10,000 threshold — a rare feat for translated literature.

Among the biggest international hits were the English editions of Han Kang’s “Greek Lessons” and Kim Ji-yun’s heartwarming “Yeonnam-dong’s Smiley Laundromat,” the French edition of Lee Mi-ye’s enchanting “The Dallergut Dream Department Store” and the Russian translation of Sohn Won-pyung’s “The Majestic Fox Tail.”

Han’s Nobel Prize win in October 2024 marked a watershed across the global landscape of Korean literature.

Her works, rendered into 28 languages and released in 77 editions with LTI Korea’s backing, sold over 310,000 copies in a single year.

These include earlier titles finding renewed life in the spotlight. Sales of her backlist of books published prior to 2023 surged fivefold, rising from 30,000 copies in 2023 to 150,000 in 2024.

Some works, instead of making a one-time splash, have proven to be steady sellers. The English editions of Bora Chung’s “Cursed Bunny” and Park Sang-young’s “Love in the Big City,” both nominated for the 2022 International Booker Prize, have each sold more than 4,000 copies annually for three years running.

A widening spectrum of genres has also helped carry the country’s literature across borders. Healing fiction, a broadly defined genre of tender, low-stake tales that gained traction in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, continues to strike chords with international readers.

In Turkey, Hwang Bo-reum’s “Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop” sold over 80,000 copies in 2024, while in Poland, Kim Ho-yeon’s “Inconvenient Convenience Store” crossed the 20,000 mark.

Other genres are carving out their own paths, with graphic novels and speculative fiction finding global favor. The German edition of Lee Young-do’s “The Bird That Drinks Tears Book 1” sold more than 20,000 copies, while the Spanish version of Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s haunting graphic novel “Grass” has surpassed 10,000 in annual sales for three consecutive years.