By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
The Korea Times handed out prizes to the winners of its 40th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards in a ceremony at Seoul Plaza Hotel, Wednesday.
Irene Park received the Grand Prize in Fiction for her translation of Yoon Sung-hee's "Possibly," while the Grand Prize in Poetry was given to U.S.-based professors Song Chae-pyong and Anne Rashid. Song and Rashid were unable to attend the ceremony, so their award was received by Song's brother Song Jae-song.
Jessica Conte and Han Hae-min also received the Commendation Award for Fiction for translating Jeon Gyeong-rin's "An Angel Stays Here." Andrew McCullough, who lives in the U.S., was unable to attend the event and receive his commendation award for translating Park Wan-suh's "Ode for Longing."
Korea Times President and Publisher Park Moo-jong hoped more English translations of Korean literature would boost the chances of a Korean winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in the future.
"It would have been nice if a Korean won the Nobel Prize for Literature this year. But with your participation and love, hopefully, we can have a Nobel Prize winner in the near future," Park said during the ceremony.
Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) Chairman Richard F. Wacker also expressed his appreciation for the English translations of Korean literature, since it provided valuable insights into Korean culture.
"I share a personal commitment to this as well because over the past several years KEB has been co-sponsoring these awards. I found a great benefit reading and being able to appreciate the Korean literature that otherwise I would not be able to appreciate. In subtle ways, it gave me an insight into the Korean culture that is difficult to get for most foreigners. And the work you're doing, I think contributes in meaningful ways to expanding appreciation of Korean society and culture for non-Korean speakers,"Wacker said.
This year's winners were selected by Brother Anthony, professor emeritus at Sogang University; Min Eun-kyung, a professor at Seoul National University; and Jung Ha-yun, a professor at Ewha Womans University.
"Its always fascinating to see how many we're going to get and how many good translations we're going to find and (to discover) new talent," Brother Anthony said.
Park, who won the Grand Prize for Fiction, admitted she was surprised to receive the award. "Thank you so much for the opportunity to do this. I found out about the translation awards last year, and when I entered the competition this year, I had no idea I was going to win. But I'm glad I did this project," she said.
The Korea Times Modern Literature Translation Awards was established in 1970. In its 40 years, it has played an important role in introducing local literary works to the world and recognizing new translators.