Lifestyle - The Korea Times

A look into struggles of young in 'Fired'

Chang Kang-myoung, a former journalist at the DongA Ilbo, is one of today’s emerging authors in Korea. An English edition of Chang’s book “Fired” translated by Teresa Kim was published by ASIA in October 2015.  / Courtesy of Chang Kang-myoung and ASIABy Choi Ha-young Journalist-turned-author Chang Kang-myoung’s first novel, “The Bleached,” has gone viral on social media among youth, for this quotation: “I think the spirit of challenge for the young generation aims at exploiting them. Doesn’t the older generation intend to determine if a profitable business is profitable or not, and then jump into the field later? If the challenge is really a profitable business, why do you guys step away from that opportunity?” Chang has also touched on this important youth issue in his short story “Fired,” published last October. “The Bleached,” which has also been translated into English by Teresa Kim, received the Young Authors’ Award   this year.In the story is a serie

Sep 2, 2016

A look into struggles of young in 'Fired'

'New book is a self defense by a psychopath'

Novelist Jeong You-jeongBy Yun Suh-youngNovelist Jeong You-jeong, who has a loyal following, spoke with readers during "Novel Night" organized by Yes24 about her recently released book "Origin of Species," Aug. 26. "Novel Night" is the first integrative book event organized by Yes24, Korea’s largest online bookseller, offering cultural performances with talking sessions. Whereas previous book events offered by the company were more of lectures and discussion sessions with authors, the new program which began Friday is a collaborative event, including theater, band performances and talks with the writer which all came as a package."'Origin of Species' is a self defense of a psychopath who tries to justify his actions despite its cruelty and inhumanness," said Jeong, summarizing the character of the book. Jeong is the author of "28," "Shoot My Heart," "Spring Camp of My Life" and "Seven Years' Night.""The novel itself is the voice of Han Yoo-jin who lies and rationalizes his behavior. The narrative is told in the first person so readers can really immerse themselves in the story.

Aug 30, 2016

'New book is a self defense by a psychopath'

Korea's 'bible of math' celebrates 50th anniversary

"The Art of Mathematics" and it's author Hong Sung-dae / Courtesy of TwitterBy Lee Han-sooThe nation’s best-selling mathematics reference book, regarded as the “bible of math” among high school students, will mark its 50th on Wednesday.The legendary “The Art of Mathematics” was first published on Aug. 31, 1966, and has sold more than 46 million copies. The book is believed to be the highest-selling book in Korea, except for The Bible.Hong Sung-dae wrote the book aged 27, when he was studying mathematics at Seoul National University. He did the work after feeling sad that Korean students studied math with books imported from Japan. His book created a sensation on release, selling more than 35,000 copies in the first year.The author established the Sangsan Institute, a non-profit school foundation, with his proceeds and opened Sangsan High School in 1981.“My youth gave me the courage to put all my effort into publishing the reference book,” Hong was quoted as saying in a report. “Now I want to give back the money I earned from the student

Aug 30, 2016

Korea's 'bible of math' celebrates 50th anniversary

LTI Korea renews literature magazine

Novelist Han Kang featured in LTI Korea’s new magazine “Korean Literature Now”By Yun Suh-youngThe Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) launched its new quarterly literary magazine, "Korean Literature Now” (KLN), Aug. 19.LTI Korea is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism that promotes Korean literature overseas. The new magazine is a revamped version of its predecessor, "―list: Books from Korea," started in 2008.The periodical features poetry, fiction, interviews, book reviews and essays. Whereas the previous version focused more on commentaries from local experts and introduced a narrow pool of Korean writers, the new magazine includes wider content, notably contributions from overseas experts. The magazine is distributed to 4,500 entities worldwide, such as publishers, agencies, educational institutions and libraries."We revamped the magazine so that Korean literature is experienced by a wider range of people," said LTI Korea’s managing director Park Chan-woo."Previously, we focused on simply listing numerous

Aug 26, 2016

Seoul to publish map of book stores in the city

Seoul Metropolitan Library will publish a map showing the locations of 470 bookstores in Seoul, the city-run library said Monday.Around 20,000 copies of the map will be printed and distributed to local bookstores, secondhand bookstores and regional district offices.The map comes as a convenient tool to look up bookstores around the neighborhood of residence as it had been difficult to locate small local bookstores. The library offers a search service on their website but it was difficult to see all the libraries at one glance.The map is quite large: 87.5 cm in width and 62 cm in length. On one page, the map shows 380 large and small bookstores, and 90 secondhand bookstores. On the other side, the map has the name and address of each bookstore so users can look them up when needed."We decided to publish the map because not many people know that there are this many bookstores in the city. We're also planning a bookstore searching event," said a library official. "We designed the map so that it will be worth possessing and people won't throw it away after using it once."The map will be

Aug 22, 2016

Kim's 2014 fiction 'THAAD' rediscovered

Cover of Kim Jin-myung’s 2014 fiction “THAAD”By Kim Jae-heun The deployment of the United States missile defense system, or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), in Korea is currently a hot potato. It even gave a stir among Asian countries such as China and perhaps in the rest of the world too -- some people believe it might trigger the next devastating World War III.When Korean novelist Kim Jin-myung published his book “THAAD” in August 2014, the advanced U.S. defense system was not well-known to the public. It was only two months after then-USFK Commander Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti first raised the necessity to deploy THAAD in Korea against North Korea’s military aggression, or to be particular, against a nuclear attack. But the author seems to have been well aware of the indispensable position of the U.S. to allocate the radar machine in Korea to complete its Military Defense (MD) system as Kim’s fiction charts the conspiracy that has to be based on a thorough understanding of the U.S. Army’s military scheme.Th

Aug 19, 2016

Yang Wang-yong's sixth poetry book, 'From Mt. Baekdu to Haeundae Beach'

“From Mt. Baekdu to Haeundae Beach.” by Yang Wang-yongBy Choi Yearn-hong Poet Yang Wang-yong is vice president of the Korean Poets and Writers’ Association, representing 14,000 Korean poets, essayists, novelists and all other writers. Last month, he and poet Moon Hyo-chi, president of the association, led a delegation of Korean poets and writers to Washington, D.C. for a joint symposium on the internationalization of Korean literature, the first such symposium in the United States. At the symposium, Yang encouraged Moon to expand on the Korean literature in the United States, and which Moon gladly did. A bridge of cooperation was established at the literary event.I received a gift from Yang, his most recent poetry book, “From Mt. Baekdu to Haeundae Beach.”   I have known the distinguished poet and scholar of modern Korean literature at Busan National University for more than 30 years. The book is composed of five parts: the first on poems from his trip to Manchuria on the North Korean border; the second on poems from his current residences on H

Aug 12, 2016

Yang Wang-yong's sixth poetry book, 'From Mt. Baekdu to Haeundae Beach'

'Poetry consoles the human mind'

Poet Jeong Ho-seung, left, and Brother Anthony of Taize / Korea Timesp photo by Choi Won-sukJeong Ho-seung publishes English poetry book for first time Cover of Jeong Ho-seung’s poetry collection in English “A Letter Not Sent,” translated by BrotherAnthony and Susan HwangBy Yun Suh-youngJeong Ho-seung, one of Korea’s representative poets, has released his first book of collected poems in English.“A Letter Not Sent,” released July 20 by Seoul Selection, is a collection of poems selected by the poet and published back-to-back with the translated English version. Jeong’s poems were translated by Brother Anthony of Taize, who is professor emeritus at Sogang University in Seoul, and Susan Hwang, a PhD candidate studying Korean modern literature at the University of Michigan.The dual-language poetry book contains 108 poems from Jeong’s 40 years of work. Among thousands of his works, Jeong selected 220 to be published in two books — the first “A Letter Not Sent” and the yet to be titled second one containing the res

Aug 5, 2016

J.K. Rowling returns with new 'Harry Potter'

/Courtesy of TwitterBy Lee Han-sooJoan K. Rowling’s eighth Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” was released simultaneously worldwide on Sunday.The release date had been set for July 31 to commemorate the birthdays of Harry Potter and Rowling.The book picks up 19 years after “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1),” was published in July 2007. Part 2 was published in 2010.Potter, now in his 30s, is working at the Ministry of Magic, and his eldest son Albus is entering Hogwarts.Fans worldwide waited hours for the midnight book release.Rowling says there will be no more Harry Potter books.The book can be bought at online book stores or at book stores. 

Aug 1, 2016

J.K. Rowling returns with new 'Harry Potter'

Missionary Hulbert's love for Korea published into book

Kim Dong-jin, translator of the book and president of The Hulbert Memorial Society, speaks at a media meeting, Tuesday. / Yonhap“The Selected Works of Homer B. Hulbert”By Yun Suh-youngMany Koreans know about Appenzeller or Underwood, who were missionaries to Korea who focused on educating Koreans as well as evangelizing them. However, not many know about or have rarely heard of Homer B. Hulbert, who was also a missionary and a teacher who was a great advocate of Korea.Commemorating the 130th anniversary of Hulbert's arrival in Korea on July 5, "The Selected Works of Homer B. Hulbert," was released on the day. The book is a compilation of 57 pieces of Hulbert's writings from 1886 through 1897.Born in New Haven and a graduate of Dartmouth College, Hulbert came to Korea at the age of 23 in 1886, during the late Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), as a teacher. He was sent to Korea to teach at Yookyoung Gongwon, Korea's first modern educational institutes run by the government.What is astounding is that on July 29, three weeks after he arrived, Hulbert wrote a commentary in a fo

Jul 29, 2016

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