Author Kim Bong-gon tweeted on Tuesday that he would return publisher Munhak Dongne’s Young Writer Award and apologized for the trouble he has caused. Kim, who gained popularity for his autofiction -- or fictionalized autobiography -- regarding LGBTQ culture faced criticism when one person, “disexual,” tweeted how her private messages with Kim had been used verbatim in his award-winning short st...

The new victim introduced himself as Young-woo from Kim’s debut work of fiction, “Summer, Speed.’ “I am Young-woo from author Kim Bong-gon’s debut title piece ‘Summer, Speed.’ I am a real person,” tweeted one user. “I am once again showing in public space that exploitation under the name of autofiction for personal greed is still harming real people.” The person claimed he was outed by Kim thro...

“I thought that executives should know all the employees,” Ahn said. “So, at the end of the year, I wrote letters to all of my employees. Everyone received different letters. I started preparing this after work in July. In the process, I realized that I did not have many interactions with some of my staff. Then I would have a tea time or meeting with them to get to know them better. This employee...

“The last feature is about different media and how the way that people consume musical content has changed,” Lee said. “As an editor, it was interesting to find out about auditions and how foreigners are interested in becoming a K-pop star.” Koreana was launched as an English magazine in 1987 by the Korea Foundation. The magazine is currently being published in 10 different languages including F...

Korea National University of Cultural Heritage’s traditional arts and crafts professor Sim Yeon-ok has published a book, titled “2,000 Years of Korean Embroidery,” which offers historical analyses on the technical development of Korean embroidery, in collaboration with her students. Established in 2000, the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage is run by the Cultural Heritage Administra...

Concerns of the publishing industry and local offline bookstore owners are rising, as Interpark Songin, a retailer to small and medium-sized bookstores, announced Tuesday that it has filed for court receivership due to mounting losses. In 2017, e-commerce platform operator Interpark acquired a 56.2 percent stake in the book retailer, which at the time was under court receivership, for 4 billion ...

Hwang Sok-yong, one of South Korea‘s best known writers, said he would rather bring back the Lotus Prize for Literature than win a Nobel prize, during a press conference held Tuesday for the release of his latest novel “Three Generations of Railworkers.” The Lotus Prize for Literature was an award organized by the Afro-Asian Writers‘ Association that was presented annually to African and Asian a...

New York-based Frances Cha is a former travel and culture editor for CNN in Seoul. She grew up in the US, Hong Kong and Korea. By Song Seung-hyun ( ssh@heraldcorp.com )

First English book offering comprehensive understanding of Korea’s modern and contemporary art published globally

Volume of short stories explores expat perspectives of Korean capital.

Afterward, abstract painting styles came into fashion in Korea. Chu Kyung’s “Hardship” in 1923 is the first abstract painting. It, however, was from the 1930s to the late 1940s, when abstract painting started to become a popular style in the Korean modern art scene. In the late 1960s, “dansaekhwa” movement prevailed, encouraged by the desire to return to nature. Also known as Korean monochrome p...

On the surface, Wordsmiths is like any other open mic event, providing a space for writers to share their poetry, prose and music. But a swift dig beneath the surface reveals a community of warmth, mutual support and acceptance. Wordsmiths’ events are held on the second Sunday of each month at Southside Parlor in Itaewon, organized by three of its members -- Kang Yea-hwon, Grace Kim and Brendon...

The Academy of Korean Studies conferred the first Korean Studies Writing Award on Wednesday, honoring a Yonsei University scholar for his nine-volume collection of works on the history of Korean agriculture. For health reasons, professor emeritus Kim Yong-sup was unable to attend the ceremony at the school in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, so a family member accepted the prize on his behalf. “Kim...

(yunapark@heraldcorp.com)

The first part of the book introduces several novels and motion pictures that present how a legal system can turn violent against individuals while it is being enforced. “The Devil ‘s Advocate,” a 1997 film about how a successful young lawyer ends up defending the unjust, is cited as a film that reflects both the dark and light sides of the legal system. The second part of the book then focuses ...