Shin Kyung-sook news (And a bit of Lee Oi-soo)

Shin Kyung-sook (신경숙)

Shin Kyung-sook has been chosen by Korean readers in a Kyobo poll as the writer they would like to most meet.

Which writer does the public in South Korea most want to meet? The results of a survey of 20 thousand people by Kyobo Book Centre to mark the 30th anniversary of its opening show that Shin Kyung-sook, author of “Please Look After Mom,” was the number one preference. Shin was followed by Gong Ji-young and Lee Oi-soo. Those in their teens predominantly favored Lee Oi-soo, while those in their 20s favored Gong Ji-young. Readers in their 30s and 40s chose Shin Kyung-sook, while those in their 50s and 60s preferred Lee Hae-in.

It is amusing to me, for non-literary reasons, that teens like Lee Oi-soo who looks (to me, TO ME!) like the crypt-keeper in many of his photos. With that said, I’ve read

Lee Oi-soo

some of his work and edited two as yet unpublished stories he’s written, and his approach is both literary and unexpected, so his popularity makes sense to me.

Perhaps most exciting to me (for Wikipedia Project reasons, and other ones) is this final graf:

Kyobo Book Centre plans to hold an event on June 18, in the convention hall on the 23rd floor of the Kyobo Building in Gwanghwamun, where readers can meet the ten authors chosen in the survey.

Of less interest to me as a fan of Korean literature translated into English, but nonetheless important, The Chosun Ilbo reports “Shin Kyung-sook’s Hit Novel Comes to Europe,” meaning it has been translated into French, where Shin has been successfully translated before.

So, really, all good news. ^^