Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch, author Danielle McLaughlin to visit Seoul in September
Summary
The Embassy of Ireland in Seoul will host Booker Prize-winning novelist Paul Lynch and short-story writer Danielle McLaughlin in September, with Lynch making his first visit to Korea. Lynch will hold a public conversation on Sept. 11 at Daesan Hall in Seoul, and McLaughlin will give a lecture and creative-writing workshop on Sept. 14 at Korea University. The embassy said the events aim to introduce contemporary Irish literature and deepen cultural ties between Ireland and Korea.
Key Facts
- Lynch will appear in Seoul on Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. at Daesan Hall in the Gwanghwamun area.
- The talk is titled Imagination That Awakens Reality and will discuss how literature reflects real-world events and how imagination can help people understand the present.
- McLaughlin will give a lecture and creative-writing workshop on Sept. 14 at Korea University’s department of English language and literature.
- The embassy said it has invited Irish writers to Korea annually since 2024 to expand literary exchange between the two countries.
- Lynch won the 2023 Booker Prize for Prophet Song, and McLaughlin won the 2019 Windham-Campbell Prize and a 2023 Markievicz Award.
Irish uthor Paul Lynch, winner of the 2023 Booker Prize, poses with a specially bound copy of his book "Prophet Song" on the red carpet for the Booker Prize Award announcement ceremony at the Old Billingsgate in central London, Nov. 26, 2023. Yonhap
The Embassy of Ireland in Seoul will host Booker Prize-winning novelist Paul Lynch and short-story writer Danielle McLaughlin in September, marking Lynch's first visit to Korea, the embassy said.
Lynch, author of "Prophet Song," which won the 2023 Booker Prize — Britain's leading literary award for English-language fiction — will hold a public conversation with readers on Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. at Daesan Hall in Seoul's Gwanghwamun area.
The talk, titled "Imagination That Awakens Reality," will explore how literature reflects real-world events and how imagination can offer new ways of understanding the present.
"Prophet Song" follows an ordinary family in a fictional Ireland gripped by totalitarian rule, using their experience to examine the spread of authoritarianism, loss of freedom, displacement and human dignity. The novel won international acclaim for its realism and dystopian imagination, alongside the 2023 Booker Prize and the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
McLaughlin, author of the short-story collection "Dinosaurs on Other Planets," will give a lecture and creative-writing workshop Sept. 14 at Korea University's department of English language and literature, discussing the craft of turning personal experience and emotion into narrative fiction. She won the 2019 Windham-Campbell Prize and a 2023 Markievicz Award from the Arts Council of Ireland; her second novel, "Rituals," was published this year.
The embassy has invited Irish writers to Korea annually since 2024 to introduce contemporary Irish literature to local readers and expand literary exchange between the two countries. "Ireland is a literary powerhouse with a long storytelling tradition," the embassy said, adding that it hopes the visit will bring Korean readers closer to Irish literature and deepen bilateral cultural ties.
Details and registration for both events are available on the Irish Embassy's Instagram account.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
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