Most Popular
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Key S. Korean, USFK special operations officials to hold rare meeting amid NK threats
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Jennie, Stray Kids's Met Gala attendance puts them on 'digital guillotine' blacklist
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Korean industries gauge impact of Biden's steep tariffs on China
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Controversy brews over shakeup of prosecutors amid probe of first lady
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OpenAI gives ChatGPT new powers to see, hear
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Another suspect behind murder of Korean tourist in Pattaya arrested in Cambodia
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Do Korean doctors make too much money?
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S. Korea to inject $70m into AI-powered public education
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[KH Explains] Naver’s Line dilemma: Lose global footing for cash?
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[Herald Interview] Carbon breakthrough in Korea: Making diamonds at atmospheric pressure
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Lara Feigel’s book tours Germany in the wake of WWII defeat
“The Bitter Taste of Victory: Life, Love, and Art in the Ruins of the Reich” By Lara Feigel Bloomsbury (443 pages, $32) It wasn’t just grunts and generals who crossed into Germany at the end of the Second World War. Along with Allied forces, a who’s who of writers, journalists, poets and filmmakers came to observe, report and reconstruct a shattered world. What they saw shocked and bewildered them. Major cities -- Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne -- had been heavily bombed. The plight of ordina
May 25, 2016
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Man Booker Prize pushes sales of 'The Vegetarian' overseas
Sales of Man Booker International Prize winner "The Vegetarian" by Korean novelist Han Kang have soared overseas, a Korean literary agency said Wednesday.Joseph Lee, president of Korean Literary (KL) Management, told Yonhap News Agency that the book has gone into a second printing of20,000 copies in the United Kingdom and 7,500 copies in the United States. KL Management handles the author's publication rights in foreign markets.He also said many countries, including India, Indonesia and some Ara
May 19, 2016
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Efforts that culminated in Han's Booker win
While novelist Han Kang’s Man Booker International Prize will likely be a much-desired boost for Korean literature’s push into the international stage, there has been a prolonged, if niche, interest in Korean literature from global audiences long before her novel “The Vegetarian” came into the spotlight. In fact, Korean literature has enjoyed sporadic success overseas, which may have culminated in Han’s win. In Germany, for example, Jeong Yu-jeong’s “Seven Years of Darkness” ranked in the Top 1
May 18, 2016
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J.K. Rowling honored by PEN for literary and humanitarian work
NEW YORK (AP) -- J.K. Rowling's passion for free expression is so strong it extends to someone she’d otherwise not care to discuss: Donald Trump. Speaking Monday night before hundreds gathered for PEN America's annual gala at the American Museum of Natural History, the “Harry Potter” creator noted that she opposed a recent petition calling for banning the presumptive Republican presidential nominee from entering the United Kingdom, saying such actions endanger everyone’s rights. “I find almost e
May 18, 2016
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Chilean-American writer Allende seeks inspiration after loss
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Isabel Allende begins writing all her books on Jan. 8. But when the day arrived this year, she struggled with writer's block. The practice began out of superstition. She started writing her first book, “The House of the Spirits,” on this date and it became an international best-seller. She then kept it as a discipline. But it was a strange year (she doesn’t want to call it a bad one). A year away from writing after great losses: her publicist, two friends, even h
May 18, 2016
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Garcia Marquez’s ashes arrive in Colombia ahead of tribute
BOGOTA (AFP) -- The ashes of Latin American literary great Gabriel Garcia Marquez have arrived in his native Colombia ahead of a Sunday ceremony at their final resting place, his son told Agence France-Presse. The Nobel-winning author of the groundbreaking epic “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” died in Mexico City in April 2014, at the age of 87. “The ashes are in Colombia,” Gonzalo Garcia Barcha, one of Marquez’s two sons, told AFP on Tuesday. The ceremony will be at the historic La Merced Clois
May 18, 2016
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Julian Barnes portrays troubled composer Shostakovich
“The Noise of Time: A Novel” By Julian Barnes Knopf (224 pages, $25.95) In Julian Barnes’ novel “The Noise of Time,” Dmitri Shostakovich considers the two types of composers in the Soviet Union: dead ones and frightened ones. Call Shostakovich one of the frightened ones. His music is played around the world, but he also stands by the elevator in his fifth-floor apartment many nights, a valise packed with his favorite cigarettes, in case he is arrested by the NKVD for such nonsensical ideologica
May 18, 2016
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Desperation, sublimation and loss seasoned with irony, humor
“LaRose” By Louise Erdrich Harper (384 pages, $27.99) Romeo Puyat, antihero and scourge of Louise Erdrich’s new novel “LaRose,” is a cursed man. Addicted to prescription drugs and anything else he can get his hands on, he lives in the shadows. Decades of ridicule and abuse run through his veins and fuel the rage that drives this story to its stunning end. But once the scores have played out, Romeo stumbles into a moment of brief eloquence, a notable concession and measure of the affection that
May 18, 2016
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Han Kang wins Booker award
Korean author Han Kang became the first Korean to win the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for her novel “The Vegetarian” on Monday. British translator Deborah Smith, who translated the novel from Korean to English, was jointly awarded the prize. “I wanted to depict a woman who refuses to exercise violence,” Han, 45, said in her acceptance speech at the award ceremony held at London‘s Victoria and Albert Museum on Monday night. 2016 Man Booker International prize for fiction winner Ha
May 17, 2016
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Children’s book on Korean history published in English
“Letters from Korean History” is an English-language series of books written for primary to high school students who are interested in learning about Korean history, according to its publisher Cum Libro. The books, published last week, are “for young readers overseas who are curious about Korea and its people, and for young Korean readers keen to learn more about their own history while improving their language skills as global citizens,” said author Park Eun-bong, who has a master’s degree in
May 11, 2016
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Matt Haig offers people with depression ‘Reasons to Stay Alive’
“Reasons to Stay Alive” By Matt Haig Penguin (272 pages, $15) Matt Haig suffered months of depression and anxiety so crippling that he stood on the edge of a cliff, trying to summon the wherewithal to throw himself off. “The weird thing about depression,” Haig writes in “Reasons to Stay Alive,” is “the fear of death remains the same. The only difference is that the pain of life has rapidly increased.” Somehow, Haig inched his way back from that cliff. Over time, with love and support from his w
May 11, 2016
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‘The Girl from Home’ is a solid economic thriller
“The Girl from Home” By Adam Mitzner Gallery (336 pages, $26) The recent economic downturn -- and financial scandals -- have also ushered in a new wave of economic thrillers in which hedge funds and stock trading provide a background for more dastardly deeds. Adam Mitzner wisely uses this background as a start to explore the maturation of a selfish, vain man who eventually understands what matters more than money or a flashy car in “The Girl from Home.” Hedge fund manager Jonathan Caine is one
May 11, 2016
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Africa's contradictions encountered in a 9-month walk along the Nile
“Walking the Nile” By Levison Wood Atlantic Monthly Press (338 pages, $26) In becoming the first person to walk the Nile River’s length of more than 6,500 kilometers, explorer and ex-British soldier Levison Wood does more than cross footsteps with noted Victorian predecessors such as David Livingstone and Richard Burton. He also traces a nine-month journey through the contradictions of African life -- cacophonous cities and expanses of barely trod landscapes offset by the greed and corruption o
May 11, 2016
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‘Paul McCartney: The Life’ offers thorough account of ex-Beatle
“Paul McCartney: The Life” By Philip Norman Little, Brown (853 pages, $32) Behind the double thumbs-up, impish smile and round, half-moon eyes lies a Paul McCartney more complex than public perception lends itself to. As biographer Philip Norman writes in “Paul McCartney: The Life,” McCartney is more than just the “cute Beatle” thumping away on a left-handed violin-shaped bass or the elder statesman of rock who continues to sell out stadium concerts lasting more than three hours. McCartney is,
May 11, 2016
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New digital imprint features works by Heller, Bradbury
NEW YORK (AP) -- Little known short stories by Tennessee Williams, Joseph Heller and Ray Bradbury are among the works being offered through a new digital imprint. Mulholland Books announced Tuesday that it is partnering with Strand Magazine on the Strand Originals program. Over the next several months, the imprint will release e-book and digital audio versions of 20 stories that have been featured in the magazine, which specializes in unearthing obscure fiction by prominent writers. The selectio
May 11, 2016
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Indie bookstores rise for seventh straight year
NEW YORK (AP) -- Independent bookselling remains on a roll. The American Booksellers Association has grown for the seventh consecutive year, the trade group’s CEO, Oren Teicher, told the Associated Press during a recent interview. Core membership increased to 1,775, up by 63 over the previous year and by more than 300 since 2009. And with many stores opening additional outlets, the number of individual locations rose to 2,311, compared with 2,227 at this time in 2015 and just 1,651 in 2009. With
May 10, 2016
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Korean novelists to visit London
Korean novelists Cheon Myeong-gwan and Han Yu-joo will be discussing Korean society and literature in London from May 10-13. The two writers will be participating in an event celebrating the spring issue of Asia Literary Review, a Hong Kong-based quarterly literary journal which aims to spread Asian literature in English-speaking countries. The entire spring issue, published in April, is dedicated to introducing Korean literature, carrying translated excerpts from works by Korean novelists such
May 9, 2016
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Spanish novel, Portuguese poems win translation awards
NEW YORK (AP) -- A Spanish-language novel and a collection of Portuguese poetry have won prizes for best translated literature. Yuri Herrera’s “Signs Preceding the End of the World,” translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman, won the best translated book Award for fiction on Wednesday. The poetry prize has been given to Angeurolica Freitas’ “Rilke Shake,” translated from the Portuguese by Hilary Kaplan. Winning authors and translators each receive $5,000. The prize money is provided by Amazon.
May 5, 2016
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Don DeLillo’s new novel considers life after death
“Zero K” By Don DeLillo Scribner (288 pages, $26) Don DeLillo’s latest novel toggles between a remote compound in central Asia and the workaday world of New York City. In the bunker an apocalyptic cult is engaged in the cryogenic preservation of humans, whose brains and bodies are being frozen until the time when diseases have been cured and human consciousness perfected. Meanwhile, in Manhattan, an introspective young man named Jeffrey Lockhart, whose father, billionaire Ross Lockhart, is an
May 4, 2016
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Fiction by ex-prosecutor tackles campus rape head on
“The Last Good Girl” By Allison Leotta Touchstone (288 pages, $25) Former federal sex-crimes prosecutor Allison Leotta continues her series featuring her fictional counterpart Anna Curtis in a too frighteningly real scenario in “The Last Good Girl.” College student Emily Shapiro has gone missing. She was last seen leaving a bar with a young man named Dylan, but he was chasing her down the street. The investigation reveals a video diary that Emily kept that detailed how Dylan had raped her, and
May 4, 2016