The Korea Herald

Korean literature has distant outpost in Poland

Jun 27, 2013

Marzena Stefanska discusses her love for Korean women writers, publishing Korean literature in her country
Brazil set for limelight at 2013 Frankfurt book fair

Jun 26, 2013

FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) ― Brazilian literature and arts will this year come under the spotlight at the world’s biggest book fair, which annually attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors in the western German city of Frankfurt, organisers said Tuesday.After New Zealand was last year’s guest of honor, Brazil takes centre stage at the 2013 Frankfurt book fair, with 70 of its authors as well as artists and others expected to showcase the country’s literary and cultural traditions.“We want to show
In Stephen King’s new horror house, it’s the everyday eeriness that grips

Jun 20, 2013

When it comes to Stephen King, I’m partial to the smaller efforts: novellas, short novels, experiments, the quieter, more interior stuff. It’s not that I don’t like his big books ― especially “The Shining,” which remains the scariest thing I’ve ever read, and the 1996 novel “Desperation,” an overarching consideration of sin and sacrifice and redemption, set in a Nevada mining town. Still, what makes King resonate for me is the detail work, the way he can get inside the most mundane situation and
Park stresses on humanities at Seoul Intl. Book Fair

Jun 20, 2013

The 19th Seoul International Book Fair kicked off on Wednesday with President Park Geun-hye attending the opening ceremony in a bid to promote reading books on humanities. “I have always relied on wisdom from the teachings of the sages found in these classics,” said Park in her congratulatory speech at the opening. She also mentioned how the books have “helped her endure hard times in the past.”Park stopped by one of the 771 booths from 25 countries and bought five different humanities-related b
Peter Hessler details rapid change in China

Jun 13, 2013

Between 2001 and 2010, Peace Corps volunteer-turned-New Yorker writer Peter Hessler delivered three entertaining, richly detailed books on China told through his interactions with everyday people.Hessler left China several years ago, moved to Colorado and now lives in Cairo, but his new book, “Strange Stones: Dispatches From East and West,” is a compilation of ground-level short stories mostly about the Middle Kingdom. Fans of his New Yorker work will find most of these dispatches familiar, tho
Julia Sweeney keeps it light, even amid family and personal tragedy

Jun 13, 2013

I had spent all of six minutes with Julia Sweeney when I brought up adult braces.They’re the worst, I said. I had them for two years, I said. They’re the worst, I said again ― this time with feeling.It’s an odd thing to say to a person you barely know. Especially a person who lived through cervical cancer, recently lost a brother to alcoholism and nursed another brother through non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which eventually killed him.Adult braces are, quite obviously, not the worst.But Sweeney had offe
A dark journey into Rosemary’s past

Jun 13, 2013

We Are All Completely Beside OurselvesBy Karen Jay Fowler (Marian Wood Book / Putnam)The Cooke family at the heart of Karen Joy Fowler’s amazing new novel isn’t so much dysfunctional as it is broken. Some members are present. Others are missing. All of them are struggling. Why? “(W)here you succeed will never matter so much as where you fail,” says daughter Rosemary. The Cookes’ failures ― as parents, as siblings, as human beings ― have left them strangers to each other, incomplete and unhappy.A
Writer inspired by real-life war nurses

Jun 13, 2013

The Daughters of MarsBy Thomas Keneally (Atria Books) Thomas Keneally has always been a novelist who writes and lives in the big sweep of epic history.He took on the end of the First World War in “Gossip From the Forest,” the U.S. Civil War in “Confederates,” and the Eritrean War of Independence in “To Asmara.” He won the Booker Prize for “Schindler’s List,” his account of one good German saving lives during the Holocaust. In “The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith,” he told a story of racism and violen
Keeping the reading experience alive in the digital era

Jun 11, 2013

French scholar Antoine Compagnon shares his views on e-books
Bible’s strong comeback surprises secular Norway

Jun 10, 2013

OSLO (AP) ― It may sound like an unlikely No. 1 best-seller for any country, but in Norway ― one of the most secular nations in an increasingly godless Europe ― the runaway popularity of the Bible has caught the country by surprise. The Scriptures, in a new Norwegian language version, even outpaced “Fifty Shades of Grey’’ to become Norway’s best-selling book.The sudden burst of interest in God’s word has also spread to the stage, with a six-hour play called “Bibelen,’’ Norwegian for “the Bible,’
‘Pride and Prejudice’ favorite classical novel in Korea

Jun 4, 2013

“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austin was given the honor of being the nation’s favorite piece of classical literature according to a survey by Kyobo Book Center, the country’s biggest bookseller.The result came as South Korea welcomed more silver-screen and musical adaptations of classical literature involving well-known titles such as “The Great Gatsby, “Les Miserables” and “Resurrection.” In the survey, “The Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger was ranked second and Hermann Hesse’s “Demian” t
Yonhap News publishes 2013 English almanac

Jun 3, 2013

Yonhap News Agency, South Korea’s main newswire service, has published the 2013 edition of “Korea Annual,” an English almanac that covers all the main events and issues that defined the country last year.This year’s edition, published for the first time since 2004, aims to better inform foreign government organizations, businesses and people of South Korea. It is also the only English-language almanac published in the country.The almanac contains all the latest information on South Korea and cov
Book tries to overturn interpretation over famous travelogue

Jun 3, 2013

By Park Sui, Intern reporterA nonfiction companion to a Joseon scholar’s famous travelogue, “Jehol Diary is a Fiction,” attempts to overturn the traditional interpretation of the centuries-old book. It claims that “Jehol Diary” (‘Yeolha Ilgi’ in Korean) is not a fact-based travelogue but a first-person narrative novel.“Previous studies, discussions and education on ‘Yeolha Ilgi’ are totally misguided,” Oh Soon-jeong, the author of the book, told The Korea Herald. The 51-year-old author, a vete
Korean culture advocate with big dreams

May 31, 2013

Publisher Hank Kim talks about devoting his life to publishing English-language books about Korea
Seoul Selection picks

May 31, 2013

Since the early 2000s, Seoul Selection has published about 70 English-language books on Korea and its culture. Here are some of the picks from their books.“The Voices of Heaven” by Maija Rhee DevineOne of the latest publications by Seoul Selection, “The Voices of Heaven” is an engaging account of the Korean War (1950-1953) from a young girl’s perspective. Korean-born American Maija Rhee Devine, wrote the novel based on her real-life experience going through the war, as well as her family secrets