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The best graphic novels of 2019
This would have been an extraordinary year for graphic novels even had no other comics save for Seth’s Clyde Fans (Drawn & Quarterly) and Chris Ware’s Rusty Brown (Jonathan Cape) been published. Seth’s book is a history of mid-century capitalism disguised as the story of two elderly brothers;... -
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Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-ha review – dark stories from South Korea
Given that loss of memory has become a familiar device in fiction, and the psychopath such a popular character archetype, we shouldn’t be too surprised by the notion of a serial killer hero with Alzheimer’s. The title story of South Korean author Kim Young-ha’s collection is a first-person... -
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National Book Awards: Susan Choi wins fiction prize for Trust Exercise
Susan Choi has won the fiction prize at the National Book Awards in New York on Wednesday night. The celebrated author won for her fifth novel, Trust Exercise, about teens attending an elite drama school in the south during the 80s which was praised for its bold experimentations with narrative and... -
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The Plotters by Un-su Kim review – a sniper in Seoul
In his increasingly curmudgeonly later years, Kingsley Amis claimed only to favour novels that began: “A shot rang out.” The opening of Korean author Un-su Kim’s The Plotters has the potential to satisfy that boozy reactionary of English letters, as a hired gun lines up his prey in the telescopic... -
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Han Kang hands over book to remain unseen until 2114
Instead of launching her latest work in a bookshop surrounded by readers, the award-winning South Korean novelist Han Kang dragged a white cloth through a Norwegian forest before wrapping it around her manuscript, which she handed over to be locked away for 95 years. -
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The best recent thrillers – review roundup
Part of a wave of Korean thrillers translated into English in recent months, The Plotters by Un-su Kim (translated by Sora Kim-Russell; 4th Estate) follows the trials and tribulations of Reseng, found in a rubbish bin as a baby, raised in a library where assassinations are planned, and now one of... -
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Man Booker International prize 2019 longlist sees small publishers win big
Judges praise the 13 finalists – all but two published by indie houses – for ‘enriching our idea of what fiction can do’ -
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Han Kang to bury next book for almost 100 years in Norwegian forest
Prize-winning South Korean author joins Margaret Atwood and David Mitchell as a contributor to Future Library project The world’s most secretive library, currently housed only in the minds of its authors and containing books that will not be read for almost a century, has added a new writer to its... -
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The ‘mega monk’ who wants us to slow down and embrace our imperfections
Haemin Sunim is the Buddhist monk whose hugely successful self-care advice books have made him a celebrity -
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Top 10 books about South Korea
A novelist recommends favourite writing about a country that has undergone a giddying transformation in recent decades