Lifestyle - The Korea Times

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Poetry Commendation Award: Two Colors in a Picture Book

Cover of Moon Bo-young's poetry collection "Pillar of Books" Courtesy of MineumsaWritten by Moon Bo-youngTranslated by Hedgie ChoiTwo Colors in a Picture BookThis picture book is horizontal and composed of only two colors. Color 1 and Color 2 are equally unimportant. That by itself intrigues the reader. If a character dies on the left page, the right page rejects it. Because only two colors exist in the picture book, coloring shadows isn't a real possibility. The fact that someone has died disrupts the narrative flow. It's a kind of manpower shortage. It reflects the writer's inability to save people. Also, being unwilling to keep people alive is the writer's trademark.Let's not ignore the fact that in order to illustrate one death, at least two people are spared. Could the slight gap under the barn's roof represent the death of the character inside? The author has only two colors. The author's material impoverishment is so typical. But doesn't that only glorify this irresponsible death?Saving a person from death and not saving a person from death appear to be equally important. This

Nov 11, 2020

[51st Korea Times Translation Awards] Poetry Commendation Award: Two Colors in a Picture Book

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Poetry Commendation Award winner Hedgie Choi

Poetry Commendation Award winner Hedgie ChoiHedgie Choi was born in Gwangju and grew up in the U.S. from ages seven to 17 before returning to her hometown. She received an undergraduate degree at Yonsei University and is pursuing a master's degree in creative writing at the Michener Center for Writers in Austin, Texas.Choi got into translating literature when she took a poetry class in English at Yonsei back in 2014 and has since translated a variety of literary works of fiction and essays as well as poetry. She picked a selection of poems from the “Pillar of Books” by Moon Bo-young to enter the competition for this award. "I like the playful quality of Moon Bo-young's poems. They're imaginative and humorous, but not in an avoidant or defensive way," Choi said. She recently sent the manuscript to the publisher and the translated version is scheduled to be published by Black Ocean in 2021.Some of Choi's other bigger projects are also poetry translations. They are easier to manage as translating is not her full-time job. "[This is] because you can work on a few poems at a t

Nov 11, 2020

[51st Korea Times Translation Awards] Poetry Commendation Award winner Hedgie Choi

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Fiction Grand Prize: Jab

Cover of Kim Un-su's "Jab" Courtesy of MunhakdongneWritten by Kim Un-suTranslated by Hannah Quinn HertzogI have an old punching bag. It's about 120 centimeters long and made of genuine cowhide, one of those top-quality bags meant to hang in a boxing studio. I've still got it tied to a branch of the persimmon tree in my backyard. Years of exposure to rain and wind have damaged the bag to the point that one touch might make it puke out all its sand and sawdust filling. I haven't punched it since graduating high school. There's been plenty of opportunities to give the bag a slap whenever I walked past, but no. So, what happened?If you could see me, with my scrawny body and utter lack of muscle, you'd never believe that I used to box. I did. From autumn of 10th grade until graduating high school. I was no athlete, but that's not to say I learned boxing just as a hobby or a workout. Edouard Manet once said that fourteen is “an age when you want to blow the world up with dynamite,” and that's exactly how I felt. I was always filled with rage, but most of the time, my anger was

Nov 11, 2020

[51st Korea Times Translation Awards] Fiction Grand Prize: Jab

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Fiction Grand Prize winner Hannah Hertzog

Fiction Grand Prize winner Hannah Quinn HertzogHannah Quinn Hertzog is from Seattle, Washington, and graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle in 2018 with three majors ― Computer Science, Korean and Asian Languages and Literature. She first began translating Korean literature four years ago when she took the "Readings in Korean Literature and Culture" course, taught by professor Cho Hee-kyoung, in her third year of university. The class focused on reading Korean short stories and translating them into English as a way of learning Korean beyond what was offered in the basic language courses."I remember reading short stories by Kim Ae-ran and being captivated by the way she describes everyday situations and objects in ways I had never thought of before ― it made me see my own world in a new light," Hertzog said. "I've been interested in languages ever since I was in elementary school, but I think that was the class that made me realize that translation is my passion."After graduation, she flew to Korea to take a two-year fellowship program at the Literature Translation In

Nov 11, 2020

[51st Korea Times Translation Awards] Fiction Grand Prize winner Hannah Hertzog

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Poetry Grand Prize: 1mg of Anaesthetic

Cover of the 184th "Quarterly Changbi," which includes Choi Jeong-rye's poems / Courtesy of ChangbiWritten by Choi Jeong-rye Translated by Mattho Mandersloot1mg of Anaesthetic1mg of anaesthetic put me to sleepSending meWandering across glaciersHaving to scale an icebergAscendingA mountain of medical waste1mg was too heavyShouldering just 1mgI struggled to move upI wanted to shrug it off, that 1mgIt was so heavyI called my mom, my mom, my late motherAnd the wide-open glacier echoed backBlanket Out the WindowA blanket hangs out the windowNaked in the sunNo patriotism, no treacheryNo flag of this or that countryWhether made of cotton or polyesterIt's free from all thought, every ideaOur lifeLike our innermost feelingsAfter being criticizedThough it's hard to get the gistOf criticism voiced in silenceA close-lipped familyLays bare their heartsOut their small and shabby roomHangs a thick blank sheetSyllogismsThese goats managed to climb a treeDangling from its branches like mysterious fruitPassing by a cottage with goats on the roofWe huffed and puffed for a whileThat day we hiked the m

Nov 11, 2020

[51st Korea Times Translation Awards] Poetry Grand Prize: 1mg of Anaesthetic

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Poetry Grand Prize winner Mattho Mandersloot

Poetry Grand Prize winner Mattho ManderslootMattho Mandersloot is a freelance translator who grew up in the Netherlands and the U.K. He earned his bachelor's degree in Classics at King's College, and master's degree in Translation at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), before completing a master's in Korean Studies at the University of Oxford. He has been living in Seoul since 2019.He first came to Korea at the age of 17, as a full-time taekwondo athlete. "Over and above the parts of Korean culture people tend to fall in love with ― food, music, dramas ― I fell in love with the language. The more I interacted with it, the more it grew on me," he said. "Having been exposed to the art of translation from a very young age, since I took Latin and Greek in high school, the decision to become a translator followed naturally."Mandersloot published his first translation into English, "Demons" by Kang Hwa-gil, in 2019 and has translated four novels since, including "Kim Jiyoung, born in 1982” into Dutch.Mandersloot translated Choi Jeong-rye's poems for The Korea Times' Tr

Nov 11, 2020

[51st Korea Times Translation Awards] Poetry Grand Prize winner Mattho Mandersloot

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Judges' Report

From top left clockwise, Brother Anthony, Min Eun-kyung, and Jung Ha-yun, the judges of The Korea Times Translation AwardsBy Brother Anthony, Jung Ha-yun and Min Eun-kyungWhat a year this has been! The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has ushered in a brave new world we have never experienced before, prompting institutions and individuals alike to rethink their opus operandi. Indeed, this crisis has demanded that we question in a fundamental way our mode of existence ―the ways in which we organize space and time and communicate with others. So much has changed and is continuing to change. What about literature?Last year was a very special year, the 50th anniversary of The Korea Times' Modern Korean Literature Translation Award. In 2020, we move into the second half-century of this award. This new half-century will doubtless bring a new set of historical challenges, COVID-19 in all likelihood being not the last of these. The judges remain hopeful, however, that Korean literature will continue to develop and prosper in these brave new times, fostering in turn new generations of translators.In g

Nov 11, 2020

[51st Korea Times Translation Awards] Judges' Report

Winners of 51st Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards

Poetry Grand Prize winner Mattho ManderslootThe Korea Times is pleased to announce the winners of its 51st Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards.This year, the Grand Prize in poetry, awarded by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, goes to Mattho Mandersloot for his translation of poems by Choi Jeong-rye, including "1mg of Anaesthetic."The Grand Prize winner in the fiction category is Hannah Quinn Hertzog for her translation of novelist Kim Un-su's "Jab." The Commendation Award goes to Hedgie Choi for her translation of Moon Bo-young's poems including "Two Colors in a Picture Book" in the poetry category. The Commendation Award winner in fiction is Rina Kim for her translation of Kwon Yeo-sun's "The Aunt."We congratulate all participants and winners for their hard work and hope for more entries next year as Korean literature needs more skilled translators to reach a global audience. The awards are sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and KB Financial Group.Fiction Grand Prize winner Hannah Quinn HertzogGrand Prize in poetry: Mattho Mandersloot (Choi J

Nov 1, 2020

Park Soon-kyung, theologian and unification activist, dies

Park Soon-kyung Courtesy of Park Soon-kyung's funeral committeeBy Park Ji-wonPark Soon-kyung, a theology professor and unification movement activist, died of old age on Saturday. She was 97.Born in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, July 14, 1923, Park studied theology at Methodist Theological University in Seoul and philosophy at Seoul National University. She gained a master's degree from Emory University divinity school and a Ph.D. at Drew University with the dissertation “Man in Karl Barth's doctrine of election.” After returning to Korea in 1966, she taught students at Ewha Womans University until 1988 and Mokwon University from 1988 to 1991. She was a professor emeritus of Ewha Womans University.She expanded the boundaries for female theologians by serving as the first president of the Korean Association of Women Theologians.She served as manager of the Korean projects for Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians since 1978. Her work had been providing theological grounds for scholars working on feminist liberation theology through her studies. In her book roughly t

Oct 27, 2020By Park Ji-won

Park Soon-kyung, theologian and unification activist, dies

Lee transformed Samsung into world's tech giant

'Change everything except your wife and children'By Park Jae-hyukThe late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who died at the age of 78, Sunday, has been most recognized for his opinions on the effects of crisis on a company and his pursuit of innovation, which enabled the chaebol to transform into a world-leading company in the memory chip, digital television and mobile phone sectors.After succeeding his father as chairman in 1987, he increased the group's revenue from 9.9 trillion won ($8.7 billion) to 400 trillion won in 2014, at the time of his hospitalization.“Spearheading Samsung's second foundation, I will do my best to fulfill my duties,” the chairman said at a ceremony marking his takeover of the firm. “With future-oriented and venturous management, I will grow Samsung into a world-class company.”His strategic mindset as an entrepreneur was proven even before he was appointed as chairman.When he was director of broadcaster TBC in 1974, he acquired Korea Semiconductor with his own assets despite the opposition of his father, Samsung founder Lee Byung-c

Oct 25, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Lee transformed Samsung into world's tech giant

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee dies at 78

People & Events

People & Events

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Poetry Commendation Award: Two Colors in a Picture Book

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Poetry Commendation Award winner Hedgie Choi

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Fiction Grand Prize: Jab

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Fiction Grand Prize winner Hannah Hertzog

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Poetry Grand Prize: 1mg of Anaesthetic

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Poetry Grand Prize winner Mattho Mandersloot

51st Korea Times Translation Awards Judges' Report

Winners of 51st Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards

Park Soon-kyung, theologian and unification activist, dies

Lee transformed Samsung into world's tech giant

Most Read in Lifestyle