An increasing number of works of Korean literature published abroad have been winning literary and translation awards lately. This year alone, as of the end of May, two works which received funding from LTI Korea won an international literary award. Earlier this year in Japan, Sohn Won-pyung’s novel Counterattack at Thirty received the 2022 Booksellers' Award in the translated fiction category, and in the Czech Republic, Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s graphic novel Grass won the 2022 Muriel Award. In this edition of the Themes Series, we take a look at 5 translations that received funding from LTI Korea and went on to win an international literary award over the last two years. Spanning from modern to contemporary times, whether it be poetry, mystery, or even graphic novels, a wide and diverse range of Korean literary works have been garnering attention. Given the great amount of visibility they provide, international awards play an essential role in creating more opportunities for the further expansion of Korean literature abroad. We hope that such encouraging developments will give more readers around the world the chance to discover Korean literature.

Author Sohn Won-pyung
Translator Yajima Akiko
Publisher Shodensha Publishing Co., Ltd.
Year of Publication 2021
Originally published in Korea by Eunhaeng Namu Publishing in 2017.

Counterattack at Thirty tells the story of a woman called Kim Ji-hye who interns at a large Korean company. Her life, until then uneventful, changes when she meets a man called Gyu-ok who has a strange aura about him, and who was born the same year as her, in 1988. The two share the same frustration at the fact that a mere 1 percent of society gets to unfairly control the remaining 99 percent which they belong to, and they decide to plot a scheme together to turn things around. This work is meant to shed light on the irrationalities of the authoritative social structure of Korean society as perceived by younger generations. It won the 2022 Japan Booksellers' Award in the translated fiction category.

Author Keum Suk Gendry-Kim
Translator Pentra Ben-Ari
Publisher Centrala
Year of Publication 2021
Originally published in Korea by Bori Publishing in 2017.

Grass is a graphic novel which tells the life story of an old woman called Kim Ok-sun who was taken away at a young age to become a comfort woman in the Japanese Imperial Army. Drawn in plain black and white without exaggerating any of the violence or promoting hate toward the perpetrators, this title is meant to offer an honest window into the minds and hearts of real victims of sexual slavery in Korea. It won the 2022 Muriel Award organized by the Czech Academy of Comics in the translated works category.

Author Yun Ko-eun
Translator Lizzie Buehler
Publisher Serpent’s Tail
Year of Publication 2020
Originally published in Korea by Mineumsa Publishers in 2013.

The Disaster Tourist is about a woman called Yona Ko who works for a travel agency which specializes in trips to disaster-stricken regions. Before losing her job, she organizes a final trip to a sinkhole in the middle of the desert called “Mui,” where she unwittingly finds herself stranded and where she gets involved in a big project. This title won the 2021 Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger Award in the UK.

Author Yeong-shin Ma
Translator Janet Hong
Publisher Drawn & Quarterly
Year of Publication 2020
Originally published in Korea by Humanist Publishing Group in 2015.

Moms is a graphic novel about mothers, who we are all so close to but who we actually know so little about. Although mothers are encouraged to sacrifice themselves for their families and love their children selflessly, and the media tends to portray middle-aged women as brazen and obstinate, the author uses a humorous tone to show that mothers can’t and shouldn’t be reduced to such clichés. This work won the 2021 Harvey Award for the best international book.

Author Yi Sang
Translator Jack Jung
Publisher Wave Books
Year of Publication 2020
Originally published in Korea by Samjungdang Publishers in 1975.

Yi Sang: Selected Works contains forty-nine poems, six essays, and two short stories originally written in Korean, as well as twelve poems originally written in Japanese. Yi Sang’s works, which were written in politically turbulent times in the 1930s in the midst of the Japanese occupation of Korea, are known for their distinctive literary style, which fit in the greater experimental literary movement of the early twentieth century. This title was awarded the MLA’s 2021 Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for literary translation and was also shortlisted for the 2021 Lucien Stryk Asian translation prize.