K-Book Trends -

Search word : "Han Kang", Search result : 147

[TREND / SPECIAL PROJECT]

Korean Literature’s Borderless Literary Appeal

Special Project [Award-winning Korean Books ②] Korean Literature’s Borderless Literary Appeal Korean works nominated or winning international literary awards in 2024 2024.12.02 The flow, trend, and outlook of Korean literature Until 2023, one of the major concerns in the Korean literary world, intellectual circles, and the publishing industry was whether Korean books, including literature, would continue to expand their presence in the global content market. And, this became a “certainty” in only a year. Han Kang’s winning of the Nobel Prize in Literature served as the catalyst. In the four years since 2020, the number of Korean authors winning international literary awards skyrocketed. Among the 45 awards won since 2003, 20 were from 2020 and onward. The following are some of the most prominent wins or nominations for international literary awards in the past four years.In 2020, Kim Young-Ha’s Diary of a Murderer (Bokbok S...

VOL.77 / 2024.12

[TREND / EXPORT CASE]

Bringing Korean Voices to French Readers

Export Case Bringing Korean Voices to French Readers 2024.12.02 Korean literature and Editions Picquier have a long story. We began publishing books from Asia nearly 40 years ago: Korea and its literature, virtually unknown in France at the time, have fascinated us from our earliest days. The first works we published - Kim Won Il’s Mr Lee’s Travel, KIM Song Dong’s Mandala, Yun Hung Kil’s The Mother - almost went unnoticed; it was challenging to bring readers into contact with a literature that was far removed from the habits and preoccupations of French readers. It was a literature that gave pride of place to cultural traditions, to the earth, to history. We thus decided to publish anthologies of short stories and essays to give French readers some reference points. This had a pedagogical purpose, establishing a foothold in Korean literature and presenting a more organized history to readers. More than 30 years ago, what was being published in France wa...

VOL.77 / 2024.12

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

Korean Publishing Market’s Trends in 2024 and Outlook for 2025

Knowledge Korean Publishing Market’s Trends in 2024 and Outlook for 2025 2024.12.02 Trends in 2024: Questioning life, fandoms, and Nobel Prize in Literature Philosophy and psychology books have dominated the Korean publishing market, with Reading Schopenhauer at Forty (Uknowbooks) topping the overall bestseller list through August. Also, 11 of the 30 bestselling fiction titles in the first half of the year were “rebound” titles, meaning they were published more than 10 years ago. In addition, the nonfiction category returned to growth after 4 years of decline, and the cases of books becoming bestsellers after being recommended by celebrities increased.Reading Schopenhauer at Forty has continued to grow in popularity this year after being featured on a TV entertainment series last year. The autho...

VOL.77 / 2024.12

[TREND / SPECIAL PROJECT]

Literary Awards: A Message of the Times

Special Project [Award-winning Korean Books ①] Literary Awards: A Message of the Times Major Korean literary award-winning books in 2024 2024.11.04 Writer Han Kang, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024 Where does the authority of the Nobel Prize in Literature derive from? Is it the huge prize of 1.3 billion won, or the long history of 124 years? Or is it the exceptional life stories of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite? Well, it’s probably a combination of all of these elements, but more than that, it’s the message that holds the secret to its long-standing authority. The Nobel Prize in Literature has always pointed out exactly what we, as a species, need to think about right now, and where we should be headed together. Each year, hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of people around the world share the same curiosity when the Prize is announced. They ask themsel...

VOL.76 / 2024.11

[TREND / EXPORT CASE]

Globalizing Korean Literature: The Journey of Kim Hye-jin and Her Works

Export Case Globalizing Korean Literature:The Journey of Kim Hye-jin and Her Works 2024.11.04 I am writing this a day after Han Kang received the Nobel Prize in Literature “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” The first in history for a writer from South Korea. It is, without a doubt, a huge milestone for South Korean literature and a debt that was long overdue. Some may even feel that this is the ultimate goal for the internationalization of Korean literature.Korea has an incredibly rich and diverse literary culture that has conquered the world in recent years, and I feel that this is an interesting moment to stop and think about how authors and authorships are managed. The most important ‘ingredients’, which are talent and key resources such as translators, grants, and promotion programs, are already there. The support is truly impressive. But how can we best promote a...

VOL.76 / 2024.11

[TREND / TOPIC]

What Comes After Today’s Korean-Style Healing Novels?

Topic What Comes After Today’s Korean-Style Healing Novels? 2024.10.07 “While the so-called ‘Korean style healing novels’ are selling well these days, trends always change. This craze will be replaced with a new trend sooner or later.” Barbara J. Zitwer, a literary agent working across English-speaking countries, said so in a recent interview. Zitwer is an American who has been exporting Korean literature overseas for about 20 years and is often referred to as a “Korean literature ambassador.” She explains that the phenomenon of Korean-style healing novels being so popular not only in Korea, but also abroad, is something that may change at any time soon. “At first, everyone read pure literature,” she said, “and then the trend shifted to healing novels.” While it may seem that the popularity of Korean literature across all genres has grown on the surface, Zitwer says that international readers switched genres when they got tired of...

VOL.75 / 2024.10

[TREND / EXPORT CASE]

New Trends in Korean Literature

Export Case New Trends in Korean Literature 2024.10.07 It’s important to be ahead of the pack in global publishing; to find the new trends and to be future looking in order to be successful. I have always been an explorer, a seeker of the new, while travelling professionally and personally, and that has led me to discover Korean literature more than a decade ago. The first books to break through were literary masterpieces Please Look After Mom (Changbi Publishers) by Shin Kyung-Sook and The Vegetarian (Changbi Publishers) by Han Kang. After the initial introduction of Korean books to global readers who had never heard of them, let alone read them, I introduced mysteries and thrillers which are already super popular in the World English and global markets. So, readers of Steig Larrsen’s mega-bestseller, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, devoured Jeong You-Jeong’s The Good Son (EunHaeng NaMu Publishing). J.M. Lee’s The Investigation (EunHae...

VOL.75 / 2024.10

[TREND / TOPIC]

Korean Readers’ Picks in the First Half of 2024

Topic Korean Readers’ Picks in the First Half of 2024 2024.09.02 According to the “2023 National Reading Survey” announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in Korea, the overall reading rate was observed to be 43.0%, the lowest since the survey was initiated in 1994. This means that 6 out of 10 adults don’t even read a single e-book or audiobook, let alone a paper book. The shrinking of the reading population, which forms the foundation for the publishing market, and the aging population have been issues in Korea for quite a long time. However, it was indeed a shocking figure for the publishing industry as it expected to see a steady increase in the reading population since it enjoyed a boom during the pandemic compared to other industries.In the first half of the year, the reduction in newly published titles, driven by a contracting publishing market, alongside the enduring popularity of long-time bestsellers, played a si...

VOL.74 / 2024.09

[INFORMATION / K-BOOK MAP]

Where Literature Dwells - Bridging the Past and Present of Korean Literature through Its Museums -

K-Book Map Where Literature Dwells- Bridging the Past and Present of Korean Literature through Its Museums - 2026.04 Literary museums dedicated to specific writers hold profound significance. They serve as cultural archives that reveal the various elements behind the birth of a literary masterpiece. Numerous such museums operate across Korea today. Among them, we would like to introduce three locations selected for their historical and regional balance: the Yun Dong-ju Literature Museum in Seoul (Yun Dong-ju: 1917–1945), the Pak Kyongni Literature Park in Wonju, Gangwon-do (Pak Kyongni: 1926–2008), and the Na Tae-joo Pulkkot Literary House in Gongju, Chungnam (Na Tae-joo: 1945–). Yun Dong-ju was a poet who focused on self-reflection and maintaining a human conscience despite the oppression of the colonial era. Pak Kyongni was a novelist who gave form to the turbulence of modern Korean history thr...

VOL.93 / 2026.04

[INFORMATION / AGENCY LIST]

Agency List

Agency List Agency List 2026.04 Abba Communication Ltd. Launched as a translation and interpretation agency in 204, Abba Communication (Abba here after) now also acts as a copyright agency. Abba supports young Korean publishers who are aspiring to build experiences in moving on to the international market, providing consultation on the way until they become global. Abba’s special forte is its excellent professional team with expertise in re-writing and/or editing synopses and introductions into texts both competitive and persuasive. Other services Abba provides include translating original materials and creating promotional texts. Focused Subjects LiberalArts : Biography, Management, Negotiation &n...

VOL.93 / 2026.04

VOL.93/2026.04

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