Korean writers hold literary events abroad this month

Just in time for the busiest season for culture and arts, the Literature Translation Institute of Korea has been organizing events across North America, Europe and Asia to promote Korean literature.

Writer and poet Song Sok-ze will be launching “Das Dorf am Fluss,” the German edition of his novel “Wepungdangdang,” and will talk about modern Korean literature at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany on Thursday.

The following day, he will participate in a panel discussion with German author Juan Guse at the festival.

Song will be concluding his promotional engagements in Germany with a radio interview on Literaturbrucke Berlin’s Sudwestrundfunk2 on Oct. 24, and a public reading of “Das Dorf am Fluss” at the University of Tubingen on Oct. 26.

Meanwhile, author Kim Ae-ran is headed to Hong Kong where she will be presenting her novel “The Youngest Parents with the Oldest Child” and hosting a meet-and-greet at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Friday as part of Festive Korea, a two-month event organized by the Consulate of the Republic of Korea in Hong Kong to promote the cultural exchange between Hong Kong and Korea.

The novel was featured in the spring edition of quarterly literary journal “Asia Literary Review,” published in the UK and Hong Kong.

Earlier this month, LTI Korea sponsored a symposium on classic literature from Korea, Japan and China at Ohio State University earlier this month. Park Chan-eung, professor of Korean language, literature and performance studies at Ohio State University, Mark Bender, professor of Chinese and East Asian culture, and Shelley Quinn, professor of Japanese language and literature, discussed the importance and evolution of Korean pansori storytelling on Oct. 18.

The following day, Park directed a performance titled “An Evening of Korean Music, Dance and Storytelling” at the Bronwynn Theatre at McConnell Arts Center in Worthington, Ohio. Featuring traditional Korean singers, dancers and instrumentalists, the one-night event showcased a wide variety of folk sounds and the traditional Korean shamanic dance, salpuri.

By Kim Yu-young (ivykim@heraldcorp.com)