“Writers,” Joan Didion observed in 1968, “are always selling somebody out.” It’s one of those classic Didion statements, epigrammatic yet personal, a line that unpacks itself the more we consider what it implies. Didion may have been referring to journalism when she wrote that in the preface to “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” but she was also, as directly as can be imagined, addressing herself. “...

Heidi Kang, Ahn So-hyun win Daesan Literary Award for Translation Heidi Kang, a German-born translator and former professor, is the co-winner of the 19th Daesan Literary Award, Daesan Foundation announced Tuesday. The award was given for her German translation of author Kim Hoon’s highly acclaimed novel, “Schwertgesang” (The Song of the Sword). Kang jointly translated the novel, which chronicle...

Tantalizing images set in a new light The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales By Chris Van Allsburg and contributing writers (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) For 26 years, it‘s been one of kid lit’s greatest mysteries: Who was Harris Burdick, and why did he leave 14 of his cryptically captioned illustrations with one Peter Wenders back in 1984? If author Lemony Snicket...

The Long Road By Kim In-suk (MerwinAsia Publishing) In Korea’s literary scene, most recognized works deal with the shared experience of life in Korea. However, award-winning author Kim In-suk and her literary interests are an exception: She is one of the few writers to write extensively on the Korean expatriate experience. And her 1995 work “The Long Road” is the only work of Korean expat fi...

“Steve Jobs” (Simon & Schuster), by Walter Isaacson: “Steve Jobs” takes off the rose-colored glasses that often follow an icon’s untimely death and instead offers something far more valuable: The chronicle of a complex, brash genius who was crazy enough to think he could change the world -- and did. Through unprecedented access to Jobs with more than 40 conversations, including long sessions sit...

It is about one o’clock on Monday in Seoul, and a tall, poised woman walks into a busy cafe. Dressed in a black jacket and a matching grey skirt, she says hello in German-accented Korean. She has huge, curious eyes. Not many would think of this Korean-born Austrian author as a foreigner on busy Seoul streets. She looks like a cultured, professional Seoulite, whom one would expect to run into in ...

Understanding all ‘Things Chinese’ Things Chinese By Ronald G. Knapp (Tuttle Publishing) For many people, their only interaction with China is at a Chinese restaurant, but there is so much more to a culture dating back over the two millennia. Let the excellent “Things Chinese” introduce you to it. Along with a former Smithsonian magazine photographer, Michael Freeman, Ronald G. Knapp provid...

Twofold Song By Yi Mun-yol (Hollym) A couple is sitting on a bench on a cool autumn day. They have been having an affair for the last three years, and have just decided to end the relationship. It is their last day together, but each gives it a different meaning and a reason. Author Yi’s novella “Twofold Song” incisively explores the contradictions of our lives, through what seems like a typi...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A new biography portrays Steve Jobs as a skeptic all his life _ giving up religion because he was troubled by starving children, calling executives who took over Apple ``corrupt'' and delaying cancer surgery in favor of cleansings and herbal medicine. ``Steve Jobs'' by Walter Isaacson, to be published Monday, also says Jobs came up with the company's name while he was on a ...