By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
The Korea Times awarded prizes to winners of its 39th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards at a ceremony held at Seoul Plaza Hotel Wednesday.
The winners were Mabelle Moon, who translated Han Kang's ``The Mongolian Mark,'' chosen as the Grand Prize winner in the fiction category; Chung Jae-won and Frances Justine Post, who translated Gi Hyeong-do's poetry, were the Grand Prize winners in the poetry category; Lee You-jin for translating the novel ``Boy Meets Girl'' by Kim Do-eon, which won the Commendation Award in the fiction category; and Peter Lee, who translated ``Magnificent Sleep'' by Jeong Ggeut-byeol for the Commendation Award in poetry.
Chung, the Grand Prize winner in the poetry category, couldn't attend the ceremony as he is currently in the United States.
At the ceremony, Koh Jung-sook, Mabelle Moon's grandmother, received the award on her behalf, while Lee You-jin's parents received the prize for their daughter. Peter Lee, Lee Eun-joo (his wife), and poet Jeong Ggeut-byeol were present.
``This year, the level of translation was particularly high. Although Korea failed to produce a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature this year, I think it's time for Korean literature to bear fruit. I hope we will produce winners of the Nobel Prize on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of our Korean Literature Translation Awards next year, '' said Park Moo-jong, president-publisher of The Korea Times.
``Congratulations to all winners. It is a great privilege for us to continue to support the Korea Times' Literature Translation Awards. This is valuable because it is good to appreciate Korean poetry and fiction,'' said Korea Exchange Bank President Richard F. Wacker.
``We need to continue to support them to do more and gain more understanding of literature,'' Wacker added. The Korea Exchange Bank co-sponsors the competition with The Korea Times.
Poet Jeong Ggeut-byeol, whose works were translated by Peter Lee, said she felt honored as a poet that her works were translated into English.
``I first thought the translations of the poems couldn't deliver subtleties, but I found it is a great honor for me as a representative of many Korean authors that my works can be widely read in another language,'' said Jeong.
The winners were selected from this year's 29 entries ― 11 in the poetry category and 18 in fiction by Brother Anthony, a professor of English at Sogang University, and Min Eun-kyung, an associate professor of Seoul National University's Department of English Language and Literature.
The Korea Times Modern Literature Translations Awards was launched in 1970 and has since played a vital role in presenting local literary works to the world and recognizing new translators.