The Korea Herald

Author Achebe turns down Nigeria honor ― again

Nov 15, 2011

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) ― The author of the internationally acclaimed novel “Things Fall Apart” and other works examining the political failures and corruption of oil-rich Nigeria has rejected a national honor for a second time over what he says are the country’s failings.Chinua Achebe’s decision to turn down the ceremonial title that he would have received Monday brought a curt reaction from Nigeria’s government, which has long tried to portray the country as a properly developing democracy with a
New book offers glimpse of Jackson’s personal life

Nov 13, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― A personal assistant turned personal manager to Michael Jackson said the King of Pop had been taking propofol as early as 1999, and that the singer was drugged up ahead of his 2001 30th anniversary concerts.Frank Cascio, who became a family friend to Jackson at age 5 and eventually one of the singer’s closest friends and employees, writes in a new book that he first noticed Jackson taking the drug Demerol while accompanying the singer on his “Dangerous” tour in 1993.He writes in
New Books

Nov 11, 2011

Laurie writes absorbing memoirLearning to Live Out Loud: A MemoirBy Piper Laurie (Crown Archetype)Rosetta Jacobs was a bright and thoughtful child but struggled to express herself. Only after she was a teenager and theater marquees began carrying her new name — Piper Laurie — did the quiet girl from Detroit begin to find the strength to speak up.It would take time and heartache for her to reach a full-throated freedom.“Learning to Live Out Loud” is Laurie‘s absorbing memoir about that personal t
Thompson’s novel ‘Rum Diary’ displays his forming thoughts before fame arrived

Nov 11, 2011

Toward the end of “The Rum Diary,” the film based on the Hunter S. Thompson novel, there’s a scene that appears to come straight from the author’s vintage work.Two journalists are sitting around a derelict San Juan, Puerto Rico, apartment, having just ingested an unknown hallucinogen. Nothing happens until one of them ― a Thompson stand-in named Paul Kemp, played by Johnny Depp ― sees the other’s tongue start to grow out of his mouth like some tubular pink snake.Depp humps and haws, his manneris
New Books

Nov 4, 2011

Brokaw urges people to make a differenceThe Time of Our Lives: A Conversation About AmericaBy Tom Brokaw(Random House)Just in time for the 2012 general election, Tom Brokaw has written a book that begins with the sentence: “What happened to the America I thought I knew?” It’s easy to imagine Republicans and Democrats flipping through it for ideas on how to avoid another debt ceiling debate, improve educational opportunities for all, or pursue green energy initiatives.But Brokaw didn’t write the
Eye Read

Nov 4, 2011

Diaspora – Korean NomadismBy Kim Jung-rak(Hollym)What was it like for late artist Paik Nam-june (1932-2006) to leave his home country and study art overseas?Scholar Kim Jung-rak’s book, “Diaspora- Korean Nomadism” features the lives of Korea’s nomadic artists who have broken into the international art scene over the past 50 years.Kim begins the book by introducing the terms “nomadism” and “diaspora,” using them as the main concepts to engage the nomadic experience of the Korean artists in moder
Didion talks about the fears that harried the writing of ‘Blue Nights’

Nov 4, 2011

“Writers,” Joan Didion observed in 1968, “are always selling somebody out.” It’s one of those classic Didion statements, epigrammatic yet personal, a line that unpacks itself the more we consider what it implies. Didion may have been referring to journalism when she wrote that in the preface to “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” but she was also, as directly as can be imagined, addressing herself.“My only advantage as a reporter is that I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and s
Biology teacher wins France’s top literary prize

Nov 3, 2011

PARIS (AFP) ― High-school biology teacher Alexis Jenni on Wednesday won France’s top literary award, the Goncourt Prize, for his first novel, “L’art francais de la guerre” (The French Art of War).The prize was announced by the Goncourt panel of literary bigwigs at the chic Drouant restaurant in Paris.The adventure story, a reflection on the heritage of France’s colonial history in Indochina and Algeria, beat stiff competition from authors including Haiti’s Lyonel Trouillot.“This is a rare book b
Caro’s fourth LBJ book coming in May

Nov 2, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― The fourth of Robert A. Caro’s Lyndon Johnson books, continuing one of the most acclaimed and debated biographical series in memory, is coming in May.And a fifth volume is now planned for what Caro had intended to be a three-, then four-part story on the man who became president when John F. Kennedy was assassinated.“The Passage of Power” will focus on the years 1958-64, from the time he began seeking the presidency, through his years as vice president under Kennedy, and to Johns
‘Song of the Sword’ German translation honored

Nov 1, 2011

Heidi Kang, Ahn So-hyun win Daesan Literary Award for TranslationHeidi Kang, a German-born translator and former professor, is the co-winner of the 19th Daesan Literary Award, Daesan Foundation announced Tuesday. The award was given for her German translation of author Kim Hoon’s highly acclaimed novel, “Schwertgesang” (The Song of the Sword).Kang jointly translated the novel, which chronicles the life of Joseon’s most celebrated naval commander Admiral Yi Sun-sin (1545-1598), with translator Ah
New Books

Oct 28, 2011

Tantalizing images set in a new lightThe Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales By Chris Van Allsburg and contributing writers(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)For 26 years, it‘s been one of kid lit’s greatest mysteries: Who was Harris Burdick, and why did he leave 14 of his cryptically captioned illustrations with one Peter Wenders back in 1984?If author Lemony Snicket’s introduction is to be believed, Burdick is by now “either very old, quite dead, or both.” The 14 chronicles
Kim In-suk writes on Korean expatriate experience

Oct 28, 2011

The Long Road By Kim In-suk(MerwinAsia Publishing) In Korea’s literary scene, most recognized works deal with the shared experience of life in Korea. However, award-winning author Kim In-suk and her literary interests are an exception: She is one of the few writers to write extensively on the Korean expatriate experience. And her 1995 work “The Long Road” is the only work of Korean expat fiction that has been translated into English. Though the 48-year-old was born in Seoul and lived here till h
Steve Jobs biography flies off shelves in S. Korea

Oct 26, 2011

SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Yonhap) -- The Korean translation of "Steve Jobs," the authorized biography of the late co-founder of Apple Inc., has repeatedly set daily sales records for most of the country's online and offline bookstores since its release earlier this week, industry data showed Wednesday."The fe
‘Steve Jobs’ delves deep into complex man’s life

Oct 25, 2011

“Steve Jobs” (Simon & Schuster), by Walter Isaacson: “Steve Jobs” takes off the rose-colored glasses that often follow an icon’s untimely death and instead offers something far more valuable: The chronicle of a complex, brash genius who was crazy enough to think he could change the world -- and did.
Bombings, beheadings? Stats show a peaceful world

Oct 23, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It seems as if violence is everywhere, but it’s really on the run.Yes, thousands of people have died in bloody unrest from Africa to Pakistan, while terrorists plot bombings and kidnappings. Wars drag on in Iraq and Afghanistan. In peaceful Norway, a man massacred 69 youths in Jul