This is a project I’m glad to say KTLIT had a hand in. We talked to the Review as they were planning things (actually, we also met them in Seoul and their posh Hong Kong offices!), and KTLIT provided the team that interviewed (and translated the interview) with Shin Kyung-Sook. This volume is a treasure-trove…
Once again, for those who prefer the scratchy spoken word to the written. This is the audio file of Tuesday’s 1013 Main Street on TBS eFM on which I discussed the poetry of Ko Un and how he is like (and unlike) Kim Hyesoon and how their poetics differ, although occasionally focusing on similar meta-themes.…
Last week I talked about poet Kim Hye-soon in comparison to poet Ko Un. They couldn’t be more different, really but in one important way they are both quite the same. I noted the differences last week – Kim is female, Ko male. Ko is economical, Kim writes in an outpouring of words. Kim is…
The Korea Herald reported, a few days ago, that the Dalkey Archive Press and LTI Korea were about to finalize a list of 25 books to be translated from Korean and simultaneously published in English, beginning with a list of eight authors. A joint project with Korea Literature Translation Institute, the series will consist of…
From the Chosun Ilbo (and having nothing to do with English translations): Three literary works by Korean authors have made this year’s “Best List” published by Germany’s Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature. The works include poet Ko Un’s “Flowers of a Moment,” author Yi Mun-yol’s “The Poet,” and Jo…
An interesting article from Han Cinema The Korean author whose works were introduced overseas the most is poet Go Eun. ….. 51 books by Go have been published or are scheduled to come out abroad. His poem collections such as “Maninbo”, “Momentary Flower”, “Hwaeomgyeong”, “South and North Korea”, and others have been introduced to foreign readers…
For those of you in Korea who don’t have to work bright and early on a Monday morning, please tune in to TBS eFM at 11 am tomorrow. It’s the Steve Hatherly show, and I’ll be on it talking a bit about Korean literature in general, and certainly about Ko Un, who just became the…
A good article on poet Ko Un in the Herald (hat-tip to 동국의 교수님 이), which touches on quite a few interesting points relating to Korean history, literature, and expectations.
For people super-interested in the Nobel Prize for Literature, it will be announced tonight at 8:30 pm Seoul time. Watch the countdown clock here if you are super-bored or, if you are really a fan there will be a live broadcast of the announcement here at KTLIT
Which would make Korea fairly happy. ^^ Pre-award touts had Ko Un at about 9-1, but his name seems to be coming up more frequently. Here is a money quote from the article: Literature expert Maria Schottenius at Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, who correctly predicted last year’s winner Herta Mueller of Germany, said she believes…