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Poet Choi Jeong-rye passes away at 66

By Kwon Mee-yoo Poet Choi Jeong-ryePoet Choi Jeong-rye passed away Saturday at the age of 66. Known as one of Korea's most exacting and innovative poets, Choi wrote prose poems drawing strange qualities out of everyday experiences.The poet was diagnosed with a rare blood disease last summer and died from cerebral hemorrhage while fighting the disease.Born in 1955 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Choi studied Korean poetry at Korea University and earned her doctoral degree there. She made her literary debut through "Hyeondae-sihak" (Contemporary Poetics) magazine in 1990 and published poetry collections such as "A Forest of Bamboo in My Ear" (1994), "Tigers in the Sunlight" (2001), "Crimson Field" (2001), "Lebanese Emotion" (2006), "Kangaroo is Kangaroo I am I" (2011) and "Ditch is Dragon's Hometown" (2015)."Light Net" (translated title), published last November commemorating the 30th anniversary of her literary career, became her final publication before death.She received a handful of awards including the Modern Literature Prize in 2007 and the Midang Literary Award in 2015."Instance

Jan 17, 2021By Kwon Mee-yoo

In memory of Choi Jeong-rye (1955-2021)

Book review: Authors explore unconventional superpowers

“Super Minority Hero” by Beom Yoo-jin et al. / Courtesy of SafehouseBy Park Han-solIf there were heroes in our time who remain unseen and marginalized instead of being under the constant spotlight, in what way and form could they come to us?In Beom Yoo-jin's short story “Captain Grandma Oh Mi-ja,” it is the spring of the year she turns 80 when the titular character begins her first lessons in the Korean alphabetical system Hangeul. When the months-long public lessons are cut short due to the county office's budgetary constraints, she starts writing a sentence every day to continue the sessions on her own.One day, after her old cow painfully gives birth, she writes “a calf gives birth to a cow,” an obvious mistake she only finds out much later.In the middle of the night, from a wobbling calf comes out a full-grown cow at least three times bigger than its “mother.” The bizarre incident opens her eyes to her newfound psychic powers, which turns the very first sentence she writes in her notebook each day into reality.The story continues as

Jan 15, 2021By Park Han-sol

Book review: Authors explore unconventional superpowers

Off the beaten track: UK journalist explores Korea's remote islands

Seyeonjeong Pavilion in Bogil Island, a birthplace of poet Yun Seon-do's iconic literary works / Korea Times FileAuthor Michael Gibb goes island hopping in Korea's unpredictable, alluring seaBy Park Han-solFueled by the “sugary, milky, hot, completely unhealthy” taste of Korea's homegrown instant coffee label Maxim Gold, an English backpacker starts another of his days on a rattling ferry that takes him to some of the most isolated islands along the coastline of South Korea.Perhaps for Michael Gibb, a man born in the British Isles, and now living on an island off Hong Kong, the trip across the treacherous sea and thick fog to reach the islands strewn around the Korean peninsula in the year 2018 was destined from the start.“It was a mixture of 'Can I get there?' and 'Will there be anything interesting when I get there?'” Gibb told The Korea Times explaining how he came to select a total of 30 islands to visit ― among thousands to choose from ― for his book “A Korean Odyssey: Island Hopping in Choppy Waters,” although some didn't make the final cut."

Jan 13, 2021By Park Han-sol

Off the beaten track: UK journalist explores Korea's remote islands

INTERVIEW Chung Bora puts unrepentant villains, empty vengeance together in sci-fi fiction

Author Chung Bora / Courtesy of Chung BoraBy Park Han-solGrandpa tells the story of how his friend who owned a premium brewery ended his life at a young age after he was victimized by a rival company in a smear campaign that ultimately put him out of business. The tragic fate of his friend motivates him to become a vigilante. Furious over the lack of justice, Grandpa decides to make a special bunny lamp ― adorable, living and cursed ― and gives it to the brewer whose business thrived after the death of his archrival. The bunny lamp self-replicates and every night, the army of bunnies start chewing through the company's documents and soon move on to something much bigger. To author Chung Bora, these inexplicably frightening and bizarre elements in her iconic short story collection “Cursed Bunny” tell the necessary story of malediction, revenge and desire to remind the audience of the very real horror and cruelty that exists in the world.“The world is inherently a foreign and strange place and I think it's a pure arrogance for humans to believe that they have figured

Jan 8, 2021By Park Han-sol

[INTERVIEW] Chung Bora puts unrepentant villains, empty vengeance together in sci-fi fiction

Use your evenings wisely to earn side income

'Power of Evening Routine' author says strategic time management key to diversification of income sources By Kang Hyun-kyung“The Power of an Evening Routine” published by Dongyang Books is a guidebook for full-time workers seeking extra income. Author Ryu Han-bin encourages readers to make the most of their evenings after knocking off from their main job by working on something extra ― for money or just for fun.He said he himself was able to successfully diversify his income sources through several side jobs. He works from nine to six as a veterinarian. Once his day-job ends, the author says he uses his evenings to create YouTube content. According to him, editing a video takes six hours in total. He runs his YouTube channel through which he earns additional income by sharing his time management tips. He also earns money as a motivational speaker and an on-call theater actor. “Those who have plenty of free time find it harder to work efficiently. This is because only people taught to manage their time can make the most of it,” he says in the book. “If you set a deadline, it can help.

Jan 6, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung

Use your evenings wisely to earn side income

Lee Seung-u wins Yi Sang Literary Award

Author Lee Seung-u / Courtesy of Literature & Thought By Park Han-solLiterature & Thought, the organizer of the prestigious Yi Sang Literary Award, which caused a stir last year after awardees boycotted the prizes protesting unfair copyright restrictions imposed by the organization, named Lee Seung-u as this year's winner, Monday.The 61-year-old writer won the grand prize for his short story “The Buoyance of Mind,” which was published in the 2020 spring edition of the Literature and Society quarterly magazine. It portrays a mother who mistakes her younger son for his dead brother, in the religious context of guilt and sin.The judges praised the story for its detailed description of the character's internal struggle as well as its elegant writing style.“Even though the narrative contains a brief family story that one can easily encounter in everyday life, it has succeeded in combining the heavy, abstract theme of guilt and a sense of liability between the son and the

Jan 6, 2021By Park Han-sol

Book review Pandemic-weary poets around world muse on life

“Staying on Earth” by Kim Hye-soon et al. / Courtesy of NexusBy Park Han-sol“Hey, I thought my enemy was communism or imperialism… Or aliens or nightmare… / But it was you all along.”In “Location of an Enemy,” poet Lee Jang-wook comes to realize that the enemy he feared all his life was neither patriarchy, terrorists nor racists; it was another person, a potential host of the virus, greeting him.His poem is one of many pieces included in “Staying on Earth,” a poetry anthology first published in September by CUON in Japanese and later translated into Korean. CUON is a Japanese publishing house that was established to introduce Korean literature to the country.As a global literary project centering on COVID-19, the collection features 56 poets from 18 countries, who muse on life, pain and hope in the wake of the destructive pandemic. Although we are constantly seized with fears of the virus and our surroundings, holding back our coughs and becoming fixated on masks, the poets' emotive language that crosses geographical bound

Jan 1, 2021By Park Han-sol

[Book review] Pandemic-weary poets around world muse on life

Kim Young-ha's 'Diary of a Murderer' wins German literary award

Author Kim Young-ha speaks during a press conference in Seoul, Feb. 20. / Yonhap By Park Han-solBest-selling author Kim Young-ha's novel “Diary of a Murderer” won the German Prize for Crime Fiction, Monday, local time. The crime thriller was translated into German earlier this year through sponsorship of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea).The German Prize for Crime Fiction, or the Deutscher Krimi Preis, is the country's longest-running and most prestigious prize for the genre, awarded by the Bochum Crime Archive since 1985.Every year, a jury of literary scholars, crime thriller critics and booksellers selects three winners each for the national and international categories based on content and literary skills. Winners are announced online with no public award ceremony.“Diary of a Murderer” was third in the international category.“It's a deep, dark comedy reflecting on life and death,” Sonja Hartl, a journalist and one of the award judges, was

Dec 30, 2020By Park Han-sol

Kim Young-ha's 'Diary of a Murderer' wins German literary award

Book delves into Vietnamese way of doing business

"Doing Business in Vietnam" by Lee Ji-yeon / Courtesy of Gilbut PublishingBy Park Han-solBusy streets filled with motorcycles zipping in all directions fit a scene most people could easily associate with Vietnam. With narrow roads and public transport services still in development, motorcycles have had a significant impact on local consumer trends.A majority of urban consumers primarily prefer roadside shops to shopping malls as they can easily check out products while going riding their motorcycles. They resort less to impulse buying because they go directly to the shops offering products they are looking for rather than window shopping in malls, a conscious behavior that carries over to online platforms. Riding scooters under the scorching sun and a wave of street dust also influences women's interest in skincare and fashion.In her book “Doing Business in Vietnam,” business consultant Lee Ji-yeon examines such cases of local lifestyles and business trends that have shaped the rising Southeast Asian nation based on her 15 years of experience in the country.Lee has played

Dec 28, 2020By Park Han-sol

Book delves into Vietnamese way of doing business

Review: Book redefines Korea's urban poor

A waste picker rides on the back of a three-wheeler stacked with folded cardboard boxes in Seoul in this April 3 photo. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Park Han-solYoon Young-ja, 75, bustles down to the street market on a hot summer afternoon with a half-filled cart carrying recyclables and folded boxes. Sweating profusely, she finally makes it to the spot she had her eyes on. As expected, there isn't a lot left to salvage: some boxes, three white 20-liter plastic soy sauce bottles and one 3.3-kilogram ketchup can.After picking out the items that look the cleanest, she starts wiping down the dirty ones with a rag from her cart. A brown mix of ketchup and soy sauce soon covers her hands.So Jun-chol's book “Grammar of Poverty” follows Yoon, an elderly waste picker, for an entire day as she does her rounds in her neighborhood to retrieve anything salvageable. Based on his four years of field research from 2015 to 2019, the urban sociologist attempts to redefine the state of urban poverty in Korea through the lives of these aged female scavengers.“The grammar of

Dec 19, 2020By Park Han-sol

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