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Search word : "Writer", Search result : 764

[TREND / TOPIC]

The Art of Selling Books: Innovative Strategies by Korean Booksellers

Topic The Art of Selling Books:Innovative Strategies by Korean Booksellers 2024.11.04 You will be able to find the figures for “reading preferences” in the results of the National Reading Survey conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in Korea last year. It gives a hint to the “actual” reading population based on the ratio of people liking books. The overall reading rate covering paper books, e-books, and audio books was 95.8% for elementary, middle, and high school students and 43.0% for adults; the actual reading preferences turned out to be 39.6% for students and 18.3% for adults. The actual reading rate, which means readings done autonomously, is cut in half from the overall reading rate as the overall figure includes cases in which people have to read books for necessary reasons, such as for work or educational purposes. Why do people read books, but have very few “enjoyable” experiences reading them? Well, consi...

VOL.76 / 2024.11

[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 / BOOK TRIP]

Where Poetry and History Meet

Book Trip [A Trip to Literary Museums ⑦] Where Poetry and History Meet Exploring the Kim Su-Young Museum and Cultural Legacy in Dobong-gu, Seoul 2024.11.04 A place that’s just ordinary for some can be a magnificent destination for others, inspiring memories and recharging the soul. Seoul, the capital of Korea, is a prime example of this duality. With the growing popularity of K-culture in various aspects, more travelers are visiting Seoul; however, if you make a trip slightly outside the center of Seoul to Dobong-gu, you will find a different Seoul with a more tranquil atmosphere. Surrounded by Bukhansan Mountain, Dobong-gu is a district where you can take a walk around the trail or hike up the mountain. There are also many areas where you can look down the mountain, get a glimpse of the cultural powerhouse that is Korea, and be touched and impressed. If you walk down the narrow alleyways of Dobong-gu, which add to the curiosity and fun of discovering hid...

VOL.76 / 2024.11

[TREND / KNOWLEDGE]

Write the Story You Want to Read

Knowledge Write the Story You Want to Read Self-publishing platforms in Korea: The reasons for growth and the current state 2024.11.04 “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” - Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 While there is no established academic definition, “self-publishing” refers to authors planning, editing, publishing, and distributing their own manuscripts without working through a publishing company. As opposed to “vanity publishing,” which involves paying an upfront fee to a publisher to produce and distribute a book, it is used almost interchangeably with “independent publishing” in Korea (some researchers and book critics use the two terms separately). The desire to document ...

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 / BOOK TRIP]

The Hometown Scenery That Became the Literary Roots of a Modern Boy

Book Trip [A Trip to Literary Museums ⑥] The Hometown Scenery That Becamethe Literary Roots of a Modern Boy Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwondo: Gasan (可山) Lee Hyo-Seok Memorial Hall 2024.10.07 Fall in Pyeongchang begins with the white buckwheat blossoms. The buckwheat fields that cover the vast expanse of Bongpyeong-eup in white create a dreamlike beauty in combination with the blue sky. In his novel When Buckwheat Flowers Bloom, writer Lee Hyo-Seok described this view as “I could hardly breathe in the soft moonlight as if it were sprinkled with salt.” Pyeongchang hosts the “Hyoseok Culture Festival” to spotlight the literary world of Gasan (Lee’s pen name) Lee Hyo-Seok, including When Buckwheat Flowers Bloom in September, when you can stroll through a field of buckwheat flowers as if you were walking into a scene from the novel. It’s a great example of how a writer’s masterpiece can have a profound impact on local culture. Ou...

VOL.75 / 2024.10

[TREND / BOOK TRIP]

The Great Legacies of Two Literary Masters of Modern Times

Book Trip [A Trip to Literary Museums ⑤] The Great Legacies of Two Literary Masters of Modern Times Busan Metropolitan City: Yosan Kim Jung-Han Literary Museumand Hyangpa Lee Juhong Literary Museum 2024.09.02 A writer’s legacy can sometimes become an important cultural asset for a region as it incorporates various stories. In this month’s issue, Book Trip travels to Busan, Korea, where you can feel a rich sense of literature. Busan, with its abundant tourist offerings such as the sea, movies, and modern cultural heritage, has a presence in literature that is second to none. The two pillars of Busan’s literary scene are Kim Jung-Han, who has intensely depicted modern life in his novels related to the region, and Lee Ju-Hong, whose works span a wide range of genres, including children’s literature, poetry, novels, and plays. The scent of their literature is wafting through the city, which has been a source of emotional support for people ...

VOL.74 / 2024.09

[TREND / ONE-LINER QUOTES]

Books That Expanded My Horizons

One-Liner Quotes Books That Expanded My Horizons Korean-French Translator’s Pick: Korean Books 2024.09.02 As a French translator, Somi Chang has been translating modern and contemporary French literature into Korean, including Margrit Duras, Albert Camus, Fran?oise Sagan, Romain Garrigue, Michel Uelbeck, Herv? Guibert, and Val?rie Ferenc. From the position of being an introducer of foreign books to Korean readers, I have gone the other way, introducing books by Korean authors to international readers. I browsed through my bookshelves. Adding the keyword “Korea” to my personal book selection criteria of “books that expand my horizons,” regardless of language, I picked out two books with great effort. Two books are: Leaning Against the Entasis Solumns at Muryangsujeon Hall (Hakgojae Publishers, 1994) and Music Story Collection (Franz, 2024). Leaning Against the Entasis Solumns at Murya...

VOL.74 / 2024.09

[INFORMATION / NEW BOOKS]

What Do Life and Death Look Like for Single-Person Households in South Korea?

New Books What Do Life and Death Look Likefor Single-Person Households in South Korea? 2026.06 Kim Su-Young, The Inevitable Loneliness, 2026. In 2021, Professor Kim Su-Young, author of The Inevitable Loneliness, launched the 〈ALONE〉 project, a two-year study documenting the lives of 109 single-person households. This book brings to light the stories of 56 participants from that research. As of August 2025, South Korea officially entered an era where single-person households exceed ten million. Recognizing that living alone is a structural landscape carved out by late-industrial society, the author conceptualizes this phenomenon as a mechanism of self-production and self-reproduction. Under the heavy shadows of an unstable labor market and a rapidly aging society, individuals in single-person households must live as the sole authors of ...

VOL.95 / 2026.06

VOL.95/2026.06

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