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| The covers of Chung Bora's "Cursed Bunny" (2021), left, and Park Sang-young's "Love in the Big City" (2021), both translated by Anton Hur / Courtesy of Honford Star, Tilted Axis Press |
By Park Han-sol
From genre-defying short story collections to poetry and graphic novels, a string of translated Korean literary works continued to ride high on the global stage in 2022 as they were nominated for or won coveted prizes.
In 2022, Korean literature published overseas scored a total of four wins and nine nominations, according to the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea).
Chung Bora's short story collection "Cursed Bunny" ― a gripping mix of absurdist tales that draw on science fiction, horror and fantasy ― made headlines after making it on to the shortlist of six titles for 2022's International Booker Prize.
Earlier, the U.K. prize's longlist of 13 nominees included another Korean writer's work: Park Sang-young's queer romance novel "Love in the Big City." Both pieces were translated by Anton Hur.
In Japan, Sohn Won-pyung's "Counterattack at Thirty," translated by Akiko Yajima, took home the annual Japan Booksellers' Award in April, making this Sohn's second win after her first with her popular debut novel "Almond" in 2020. A month later, poet Kim So-yeon's lyrical wordbook "One-letter Dictionary," translated by Kang Shin-ja, nabbed the country's best translation award.
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| The covers of Sohn Won-pyung's "Counterattack at Thirty" (2021), translated by Akiko Yajima, left, and Keum Suk Gendry-Kim's "Grass" (2021), translated by Petra Ben-Ari / Courtesy of Shodensha, Centrala |
Another notable literary achievement was made in the Czech Republic by graphic novelist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim's "Grass," when its translator Petra Ben-Ari received the Muriel Comics Award.
The author's other work, "The Waiting," a heart-wrenching story of families forcibly separated during the 1950-53 Korean War, was rendered masterfully in English by Janet Hong, earning a nomination for the Harvey Award in the best international book category.
Other significant recognitions of 2022 included the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize awarded to Kim Jae, who translated poet Lee Young-ju's "Cold Candies" into English. Soje, who was responsible for bringing to life Lee Hye-mi's "Unexpected Vanilla" and Lee Soho's "Catcalling" in English, was nominated for the Sarah Maguire Prize and the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, respectively.
Some 150 Korean literary works were printed overseas in 27 languages in 2022 with the support of LTI Korea.
The organization noted that Korean literature published and introduced to international readers is becoming more and more diverse both in terms of its genres ― from science fiction to fantasy and thrillers ― and the profile of its writers.
Most notably, the bestselling fantasy novel series "Dollargut Dream Department Store," penned by Samsung Electronics semiconductor engineer-turned rookie writer Lee Mi-ye in 2020, has been translated into Russian, German, Turkish and Vietnamese in the span of two years.
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