Author Shin’s novel among finalists of Man Asian Literary Prize

Korean novelist Shin Kyung-sook’s latest novel was put on the shortlist of the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize, the prize’s organizing committee said on its website on Wednesday.

“Please Look After Mom” is one of the seven finalists of the prize along with works by authors from such countries as India, Japan, China and Pakistan.

It was the first time that a South Korean novel has been included on the prize’s shortlist.

“This is a moving and structurally compelling novel which examines a single family’s history through the story of the matriarch, who mysteriously goes missing from a train station,” a statement on the committee’s website quoted judges of the 2011 prize as commenting on Shin’s novel.

“A disquieting portrait of what can happen when ancient rituals and tradition are ignored in favor of modernity,” it added.

Founded in 2007, the Man Asian Literary Prize is an annual literary award given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year.

A winner is scheduled to be announced on March 15 in Hong Kong.

The winning author is awarded $30,000.

The judges were Razia Iqbal, a BBC reporter; Korean-American novelist Lee Chang-rae, Pulitzer-prize finalist and author of “The Surrendered”; and Vikas Swarup, the Indian author of “Q&A,” which was filmed as the Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Shin is one of South Korea’s widely read and acclaimed novelists. “Please Look After Mom” is her first book to appear in English and will be published in 29 countries. She lives in Seoul and is currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York City. 

(Yonhap News)