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Baek Hee-na wins international children's book award

Writer-illustrator Baek Hee-na poses in this Dec. 20 file photo, 2012. Baek has been named the winner of the 2020 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. She's the first Korean to win the world's largest children's literature prize. Korea Times file By Park Ji-wonBaek Hee-na, author and renowned picture book artist, has been named the winner of the 2020 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the world's largest children's literature prize. She is the first Korean to win the prestigious award.The jury of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award announced Tuesday (local time) that Baek was the winner of the annual award and will receive $500,000 (611 million won) in prize money for her unique artwork. After announcing Baek as the winner, Boel Westin, head of the jury said: “With exquisite feeling for materials, looks and gestures, Baek Hee-na's filmic picture books stage stories about solitude and solidarity. In her evocative miniature worlds, cloud bread and sorbet moons, animals, bath f

Apr 1, 2020By Park Ji-won

Baek Hee-na wins international children's book award

13 days of fears in Korea's deep south

The main street in the southwestern city of Gwangju is filled with soldiers and tanks in this May 1980 file photo after the military brutally cracked down on the pro-democracy protests there. Nationwide martial law was declared shortly during the May 18 uprising. / Korea Times fileIn 'Witnessing Gwangju,' ex-Peace Corps volunteer reconstructs 1980's pro-democracy uprising By Kang Hyun-kyungPaul Courtright's “Witnessing Gwangju” is an American's account of the tragic May 18 Gwangju Uprising that took place four decades ago. His memoir revisits the 13 days of fears and gunfire during the student-led pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city in 1980 when the author was working with a leprosy resettlement center named Hohyewon in South Jeolla Province as a Peace Corps volunteer. As his workplace was located 30 minutes from Gwangju, he frequently travelled back and forth to Gwangju, as well as other neighboring cities, on business trips. Courtright said the publication of his first-hand experience of the protests and military's brutal crackdown on protesters during the t

Mar 27, 2020By Kang Hyun-kyung

Children's book writer Shin Ji-sik dies at 90

By Park Ji-wonWriter Shin Ji-sik Korea Times fileShin Ji-sik, a children's book writer best known here for her translation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's 1908 novel “Anne of Green Gables,” died of a chronic disease March. 12. She was 90.Her death was made public several days late as her family was concerned about her funeral service drawing too many people amid the spread of the coronavirus here, and attempted a move to keep social distancing to prevent further infections. Her family members said they apologize for not openly letting people know about the service.Born in Seoul in 1930 when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, Shin was first recognized after winning a literary award for female students with the short-novel “Hayan Gil,” or the “White Road,” in 1948 when she was a student at Ewha Girls' High School. Spending her formative years in China's northeastern Jilin Province from age 9, she later came back to Seoul in 1946 for her high school education. After graduation, she went on to Ewha Womans University majoring in literature.While working

Mar 18, 2020By Park Ji-won

Children's book writer Shin Ji-sik dies at 90

Left-winger examines 'close but distant' Japan

Gettyimagesbank'Observing Japan' finds mistranslation of diplomatic rhetoric exacerbates Korea-Japan ties By Kang Hyun-kyungYum Jong-soon's “Observing Japan for 30 Years: 18 Reasons Why Korea Will Defeat Japan,” published by Tornado, reveals a new factor that pits South Korea and Japan against each other ― mistranslation.Yum, a self-proclaimed leading expert on Japan, said the two countries' common usage of Chinese characters, ironically, has become a source of a diplomatic rift as some expressions are used completely differently in the two countries. The author, who has lived in Japan for 30 years, founding and running his own business, said President Moon Jae-in's use of the Chinese expression “jeok-ban-ha-jang” in response to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to remove South Korea from the “white list” last year was misinterpreted and thus infuriated the Japanese public.In a Cabinet meeting on August 2, Moon described Japan's actions using the expression, which translates to “the robber blaming the owner of the house he's burgling.

Mar 13, 2020By Kang Hyun-kyung

Left-winger examines 'close but distant' Japan

Book clubs deliver curated selections to doorstep

Choi Ina Books / Courtesy of Choi Ina BooksBy Kwon Mee-yooweekender p15) Choi Ina Books/2020-03-12(코리아타임스)In an age when the reading population continues to decline and those who purchase books head to convenient online bookstores, small brick-and-mortar bookshops are striving to engage local customers with a distinctive selections of books. As the COVID-19 outbreak has forced Koreans to keep a “social distance” to prevent spread of the disease, book club services at unique bookstores could be a safe way to explore uncharted territory in reading.Choi Ina Books, a bookstore in southern Seoul, was founded by Choi Ina, a former executive of Cheil Worldwide, one of the largest advertising companies in Korea. In addition to a spacious bookshop and cafe suitable for browsing and reading books, Choi Ina Books also operates a book club, offering recommended books from experts and bringing new perspectives to reading habits. "When I opened a bookstore, I thought a lot about when people look for books. I concluded that people seek books when they have problems in their life or feel

Mar 12, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

Book clubs deliver curated selections to doorstep

Penguin Books only

Penguin Books only

Shelves of Paperback bookstore in Itaewon, Seoul, are filled with vintage Penguin Books collected by owner Lee Hee-song. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukPaperback bookstore is treasure trove for vintage book loversBy Kwon Mee-yooA shelf of vintage orange Penguin Books always catches one's eyes when visiting used bookstores. A second-hand bookshop filled solely with Penguin Books would be a dream of a bibliophile.Paperback, a new bookstore that opened in February located near Itaewon-dong's Gyeongidan Street, is a dream-come-true for booklovers as this shop only features vintage Penguin Books, its imprints Pelican Books and Puffin Books, and other gift items using the iconic Penguin book cover design.Lee Hee-song, owner of Paperback, said it took about two years for him to collect enough books and find a bricks-and-mortar space, bringing his idea of a Penguin Books-only bookshop to fruition. This is not Lee's first bookshop. He previously ran Pinokio Books, a bookstore specializing in picture books, before opening Paperback. Before opening Pinokio Books in 2013, he was a white-collar

Mar 12, 2020By Kwon Mee-yoo

Book clubs deliver curated selections to doorstep

40% of adults don't read a book a year: survey

By Park Si-soo Nearly 40 percent of South Korean adults don't read a book a year, a stunning finding that the time-tested way to gain knowledge, wisdom and insight is losing luster amid the text-to-video shift of preferred sources of information powered by high-speed internet. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism found this in a survey of 9,000 people ― 6,000 adults and 3,000 school-age children.The average number of books an adult reads a year is six, down from eight found in the previous survey two years ago.The ministry said “book” referred to in the survey was a comprehensive concept of paper book, e-book and audio book combined. And given that a single-digit rate of adults responded they used only e-books or audio books, the average number of conventional paper books they read would be even lower, it said. The rate of school-age children was the opposite ― 90.7 percent of them read at least a book a year and the average number of books they read is 32.4. While the ratio was 1 percent down from the previous survey, the average went up 3.8 books. Both groups sho

Mar 11, 2020

40% of adults don't read a book a year: survey

Swedish Tax Agency born again

gettyimagesbank'Tax Collector' gives insiders' view of how a once-hated agency came to win taxpayers' heartsBy Kang Hyun-kyungThe Bible gives some insight into the historical perception of tax collectors. In the Gospel of Luke, for example, Jesus sympathizes with the tax collector Zacchaeus, causing outrage from the surrounding crowd. The Gospel also tells of a parable about the self-righteous Pharisee and a self-deprecating tax collector who describes himself as a sinner. Tax collectors were despised, just as the biblical descriptions suggest.There has been little change in the general public's attitude toward the tax service. In many countries, including Korea, people tend to display a “visceral dislike” toward tax agencies. A 2019 public opinion survey of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission shows the National Tax Service was one of the lowest-ranked public agencies in terms of transparency. The book “From Feared Tax Collector to Popular Service Agency” co-authored by Anders Strich and Lennart Wittberg, however, presents a different narrativ

Mar 8, 2020By Kang Hyun-kyung

MBK chairman debuts as novelist

The cover of “Offerings,” the debut novel by MBK Partners Chairman Kim Byung-ju. / Captured from Amazon.comBy Park Jae-hyukMBK Partners Chairman Kim Byung-ju will publish an autobiographical novel in English, March 24.According to industry officials, Tuesday, the head of the largest Northeast Asian independent private equity fund is set to unveil his first novel titled “Offerings” in hardcover and Kindle eBook formats.Readers can pre-order the 288-page book on Amazon.com and several other e-commerce platforms.The protagonist of the book is Dae-joon, a Korea-born Wall Street investment banker who was raised in the United States and educated at Harvard Business School (HBS).With the rapidly cascading Asian Financial Crisis threatening to go global and Korea in imminent meltdown, Dae-joon finds himself back in his native Seoul as part of an international team brought in to rescue the country from sovereign default.Following this, he finds himself in a personal crisis, when his closest friend from HBS, a scion of one of Korea's biggest chaebol, asks for his help i

Mar 3, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

'Superbugs' timely as it has parallels with killer virus

Superbugs refer to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. / gettyimagesbankUS infectious diseases expert warns of deadly bacteriaBy Kang Hyun-kyungMatt McCarthy's 2019 book “Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic” was translated into Korean and published recently by local publishing house Next Wave Media.The work by the American physician and infectious diseases expert couldn't be timelier, as the nation has been grappling with the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Koreans are panicked as the spread of the killer virus shows no signs of abating. As of Friday afternoon, more than 2,000 in Korea had been infected with the virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, and 13 had died.With no vaccine existing to tackle the virus, fears are growing. McCarthy says his book is about antibiotic-resistant bacteria called “superbugs,” not viruses. “Some antibiotics can also kill parasites and fungi, but they are rarely effective against viruses,” his book reads. “That's why your doctor is stingy about doling out antibiotics when you have a c

Feb 28, 2020By Kang Hyun-kyung

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