The Korea Herald

Amanda Knox book rights sold for $4 mn: report

Feb 17, 2012

Amanda Knox, who was acquitted last year of murdering her British roommate while studying in Italy, has sold the rights to her memoir for $4 million, The New York Times reported on Thursday.The newspaper, citing people familiar with the negotiations, said that HarperCollins acquired the rights after
Application to open for literary translation grant

Feb 16, 2012

Applications will soon open for this year’s grant for Korean literary translation, research and publication in overseas countries, the Daesan Foundation announced this week.The annual support fund each year selects some 25 applicants who wish to translate Korean works of literature into foreign languages, research Korean literature overseas and publish their translated work of Korean literary works in foreign countries. Applicants for Korean literary translation category must choose one piece of
US comic wins Japan international manga award

Feb 16, 2012

TOKYO (AFP) - American comic book “I Kill Giants” has won the top prize in the Japanese government-sponsored annual international award for manga, the foreign ministry said.The 2008 book, created by American writer Joe Kelly and Spanish cartoonist J.M. Ken Niimura, was awarded the gold prize out of 145 entries from 30 countries and areas, the ministry announced on Tuesday.It portrays a socially isolated girl battling monsters both real and imagined as she comes of age.The three silver prizes wen
Novelists open new chapter for booming China film industry

Feb 13, 2012

HONG KONG (AFP) ― Acclaimed Chinese novelist Geling Yan has become accustomed to reaching a wide audience both at home and abroad. But nothing could have prepared her for the attention she has received since film director Zhang Yimou picked up one of her novels and turned it into “The Flowers of War,” China’s biggest box office smash of the past 12 months.“To see my work made into such a grand piece of cinema has made me very happy, it has been quite a shock,” said Yan of the production, adapted
Solo living book challenges family life

Feb 10, 2012

Going SoloBy Eric Klinenberg(The Penguin Press)Living in families, though traditional and almost universal on this evolving planet, is experiencing an unplanned but effective attack, according to a new book.Author Eric Klinenberg, professor of sociology at New York University, sees lessons to be learned. He sums them up in his subtitle: “The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone.”What good is living alone? Isolate yourself from all your friends? No wife? No husband? No mother?
Chilling look at pedophile rings

Feb 10, 2012

Catch Me By Lisa Gardner (Dutton)Lisa Gardner’s talent for showing ordinary people caught in the worst time of their lives and then dangling them over a precipice of more danger is polished to a high gloss in the involving and highly entertaining “Catch Me.”Gardner’s 16th novel melds a thrilling police procedural with a gripping personal story of a woman who refuses to be a victim. “Catch Me’s” brisk pace is matched by Gardner’s attention to believable characters. As usual, Gardner peppers her n
Eye Read

Feb 10, 2012

Glimpse into Joseon’s royal culture Joseon Royal Court Culture Ceremonial and Daily LifeBy Shin Myung-ho(Dolbegae Publishers)Ever wondered what it would be like to be a king during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897)? According to scholar Shin Myung-ho’s intriguing historical account “Joseon Royal Court Culture Ceremonial and Daily Life,” you would very often suffer an eye disease, as you’d spend most of your time reading all sorts of documents, and no one would dare look at your face without your ap
Harlem Renaissance collection contains surprising groundbreakers

Feb 10, 2012

Last fall, the Library of America released two volumes featuring authors who wrote during the Harlem Renaissance, that vague early 20th-century era when black novelists, artists, poets, musicians, essayists and even publishers pushed black culture to the forefront.The Harlem Renaissance served the purpose, awakening whites to the injustice of racism and assuring blacks that they weren‘t alone.But the stories of the time were often what is now standard fare for Black History Month in February. Di
‘Kosher Jesus’ book raises furor

Feb 10, 2012

For an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, Shmuley Boteach has a deeply unorthodox streak.The best-selling author and TV host has written books on “Kosher Sex,” “Dating Secrets of the 10 Commandments” and his relationship with the late pop star Michael Jackson.But nothing he has done in a career as one of America’s best-known rabbis has caused quite the stir of his latest book. Even before its publication this month, Boteach came under withering attack in his own Orthodox community, with critics accusing him
[Herald Interview] KLTI reaches out to global literary market

Feb 9, 2012

Translation institute’s new director Kim stresses importance of international promotion of Korean literatureMore international networking and aggressive marketing are needed to better promote Korean literature overseas, said the newly appointed director of Korea Literature Translation Institute on Wednesday.“What local critics consider as an exceptional piece of literary work here may not be regarded the same way overseas,” Kim Seong-kon told The Korea Herald in his office in Samseong-dong, Seou
[Herald Interview] KLTI reaches out to global literary market

Feb 9, 2012

Translation institute’s new director Kim stresses importance of international promotion of Korean literatureMore international networking and aggressive marketing are needed to better promote Korean literature overseas, said the newly appointed director of Korea Literature Translation Institute on Wednesday.“What local critics consider as an exceptional piece of literary work here may not be regarded the same way overseas,” Kim Seong-kon told The Korea Herald in his office in Samseong-dong, Seou
Mars-Jones wins Hatchet Job award

Feb 8, 2012

LONDON (AP) ― A critic who accused a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of scattering literary allusions like “tin cans tied to a tricycle’’ has won a prize for the year’s most lacerating book review.Adam Mars-Jones’ review of Michael Cunningham’s novel “By Nightfall’’ was named the winner of the Hatchet Job of the Year Award.The review condemns the novel’s pretensions, saying it is “filled with thoughts about art, or (more ominously) Thoughts about Art.’’Mars-Jones, a British-born novelist, was aw
Book details JFK affair with teen White House intern

Feb 7, 2012

NEW YORK (AFP) ― John F. Kennedy carried on an 18-month-long affair with a teenaged White House intern, according to a new book by the woman who claims to have been the late U.S. president’s lover.Excerpts of the shocking memoir, “Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath,” were released Monday by the New York Post, which said it purchased a copy of the book at a local bookstore, although it is not scheduled for publication until Wednesday.In her tell-all mem
Kim named new director of literature translation agency

Feb 7, 2012

Professor Kim Seong-kon of Seoul National University has been appointed the new director of Korean Literature Translation Institute, the Culture Ministry announced on Tuesday.Kim, who has been teaching the University’s English literature program since 1984, also served as the director of Seoul National University Press, Seoul International Forum for Literature, and International Association for Contemporary Korea Studies. He also served as the president of the Korean Association of Modern Fictio
Went to film school, wound up with a book

Feb 3, 2012

Film School By Steve Boman(BenBella Books)I’ve always thought of advanced degrees in filmmaking as finishing school for misfits. Brilliant misfits, some of them. But misfits just the same.Into the film school world stumbles Steve Boman, a former reporter seeking a midlife U-turn. Astoundingly, even to him, the father of three has been accepted into the graduate program at the University of Southern California’s esteemed School of Cinematic Arts, where he will compete against hipsters half his ag