Cover to Cover

It’s the end of another year, and we’ve rounded up the top 5 Korean books translated into English that came out in 2023 that you’ve got to check out.  We discuss how and why we chose these books, and some of the key themes, including feminism, generation gaps and LGBT rights. This episode also features special appearances by our books reporter Hwang Dong-hee and literary translator Victoria Caudle...

What happens when a ghost tries to cross the DMZ dividing North and South Korea? Author Joseph Han’s debut novel “Nuclear Family” explores themes of separated families, generational trauma and the Korean immigrant experience in Hawaii. Upon the release of the Korean translation of his book to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War in 1953, we interviewed Joseph about his diaspora e...

Happy 10th anniversary to BTS! In this episode, we dove into the BTS book "Beyond the Story” (translated by Anton Hur, Claire Richards and Slin Jung) which has been taking bestseller lists by storm around the world.  We sat down with Dr. Areum Jeong, an assistant professor of Korean Studies at Arizona State University and K-pop expert, about her TCK roots, ARMY fandom, how BTS changed the ind...

Happy Pride! To commemorate, we sat down with award-winning literary translator Anton Hur. Anton’s translation of the queer Korean novel “Love in the Big City” by Park Sang-young was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022. In this wide-ranging conversation, Anton delved into how his unique upbringing shaped his career path, the current landscape for LGBT books and media in Korea, an...

As Hallyu continues to take the world by storm, including the growing popularity of Korean language learning, we sat down with award-winning Korean author Seo Su-jin to uncover the dark side of the Korean language boom. Through her debut novel “Korean Teachers,” translated by Elizabeth Buelher and published by Harriett Press, Seo delves into the exploitative and sexist working conditions for unive...

For our April episode, we spoke with award-winning literary translator and writer Sora Kim-Russell, whose translation of Hwang Sok-young's “At Dusk” was nominated for the International Booker Prize in 2019. She has won various translation awards, including the Shirley Jackson Award for her translation of Pyun Hye-young’s “The Hole.” Her translations have appeared in the New Yorker and Harper’s...

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we talk to Hawon Jung, author of “Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea’s Feminist Movement and What It Means for Women’s Rights Worldwide.” We discuss why “feminism” is such a loaded term in South Korea, the #MeToo movement, digital sex crimes, deep-rooted patriarchal gender norms and how the women’s rights movement here connects to other mo...

In our final episode of 2022, we talk about hidden gems in Korean literature with Taylor Bradley, co-founder of the independent publishing house Honford Star. Taylor co-founded Honford Star in 2016 with Anthony Bird with a mission to publish the best literature from East Asia. In this episode, we look back on highlights of translated Korean fiction over the past year for Honford Star, including th...

In this special Halloween episode, we have a spooky Korean urban legend for you, featuring copy editor Brolley Genster. Our main topic is the world of Korean horror webtoons. Culture reporter Lee Si-jin breaks down the Korean webtoon industry and the horror webtoon genre. We discuss what makes Korean horror webtoons unique, and some of the most prominent adaptations in the last few years. We explo...

In Korea, fall is a season for contemplation and deep reflection. To mark the start of fall, we’ve picked two bestsellers in Korea: Baek Se-hee’s “I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki” translated by Anton Hur and Kim Ho-yeon’s “Inconvenient Convenience Store.” Co-hosts Beth Eunhee Hong and Naomi Ng discuss why these books resonated so much with Korean readers, and connect them with broader t...

In this month’s episode, we speak to Raphael Rashid, a Seoul-based freelance journalist and author from the UK who has lived in Korea since 2011. He has been published in the New York Times, the Guardian, Elle Korea, and appeared on Al Jazeera, BBC World, Channel 4 and Channel News Asia, among many more. He is a prolific member of the Twitterati about South Korean culture, politics and social issu...

In this books episode, we spoke with award-winning literary translator Soje. They have translated Lee Soho’s Catcalling (2021), Choi Jin-young’s To the Warm Horizon (2021) and Lee Hyemi’s Unexpected Vanilla (2020). They also make chogwa , a quarterly e-zine featuring one Korean poem and multiple English translations. More about Soje can be found at http://smokingtigers.com/soje . Hosts Beth Eunhee...

To commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May 2022, we discuss 2 works of fiction by celebrated Asian authors in another books episode of The Korea Herald podcast. Copy editors Beth Eunhee Hong and Naomi Ng discuss books that shaped their worldview and sense of identity as third culture kids with roots in Seoul and Hong Kong. Beth’s pick is “Minor Feelings: An Asian Amer...

We spoke with Bora Chung, an award-winning author who was one of two Korean authors nominated for the 2022 International Booker Prize. Her book, “Cursed Bunny,” translated by Anton Hur is a collection of 10 “genre-defying” short stories that span magical realism, horror and science fiction. Chung “uses elements of the fantastic and surreal to address the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarc...

Barry Welsh, host of Seoul Book Club by Barry Welsh, shares three Korean novels to watch for Spring 2022 in this special episode of The Korea Herald books podcast! In this episode, copy editor Beth Eunhee Hong and Barry discuss three diverse works of Korean literature: the 2022 International Booker Prize nominated “Love in the Big City” by Park Sang Young (translated by Anton Hur), “Lemon” by Kwon...

To commemorate International Women’s Day on March 8, we discuss three short stories from a collection of works by celebrated Korean women authors in a special books episode of The Korea Herald podcast. “The Future of Silence: Fiction by Korean Women” is a collection of nine short stories that span five decades from the 1970s to 2010s, edited and translated by Ju-chan and Bruce Fulton. In this epis...