Most Popular
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Ador CEO denies allegations, accuses Hybe of mistreating NewJeans
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Korea’s homegrown nanosatellite successfully launches into space
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[Herald Interview] 'Amid aging population, Korea to invite more young professionals from overseas'
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Nicaragua shuts down Seoul embassy
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Medical reform committee kicks off despite boycott from doctors
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Hybe's multilabel system tested amid conflict with Ador
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SNU profs to suspend treatment for one day
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Rocket engine expert, ex-NASA exec to lead Korea's new space agency
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Over-50s, men, single-person households take up majority of those filing for bankruptcy
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SK hynix pledges W20tr to ramp up DRAM production at home
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Sheen and Estevez explore father-son dynamics in memoir
Martin Sheen was a struggling 21-year-old stage actor when his first son, Emilio Estevez, was born. Sheen, seventh of 10 children in a family that knew him as Ramon Antonio Gerardo Estevez instead of his stage name, was more accustomed to having siblings than being a father. He felt more like a brother to Emilio, and that dynamic has defined their relationship to this day.In their new memoir, “Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son,” which was written with Hope Edelman, the two examine t
June 15, 2012
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British author McGregor scoops Irish prize
DUBLIN (AFP) ― British author Jon McGregor on Wednesday won the 100,000-euro ($125,000) International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, one of the world’s most lucrative honors for a work of fiction.McGregor scooped the award for his novel “Even the Dogs” about the lives of a group of homeless drug addicts.“‘Even the Dogs’ is an intimate exploration of life at the edges of society ― littered with love, loss, despair, and a half-glimpse of redemption,” said Dublin Lord Mayor Andrew Montague, who prese
June 14, 2012
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Swords and sorcery ― and psychology
The ScarBy Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, translated by Elinor Huntington(Tor)Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, husband-and-wife authors, have written numerous science-fiction and fantasy novels in Russian ― and have racked up a mantel-ful of awards in doing so ― but they’ve only now made a foray into U.S. bookshelves with “The Scar.”“The Scar” tells the story of Egert Soll, a handsome and skilled warrior from a noble family, a leader of men, arrogant and self-centered. Always the center of attention,
June 8, 2012
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Teen sleuth tracks stolen art in Japan
Tokyo Heist By Diana Renn(Viking)When Japanese culture is fused with teen fiction, the result is usually shojo manga ― black-and-white graphic novels with a girlish romantic twist. In “Tokyo Heist,” Japanese comics aren’t the format but serve as an undercurrent in a globe-trotting, art-themed mystery novel involving missing Van Goghs, Japanese gangsters and a 16-year-old girl on the outs with her father.Violet had no idea how important her interest in all things Japanese would become when she we
June 8, 2012
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Scholar introduces Korean feasts
Festive Occasions: The Customs in KoreaBy Yoon Seo-seokTranslated by Cho Yoon-jung (Ewha Womans University Press)One can expect plenty of food, music and dance at Korea’s traditional “Janchi.” Janchi would be held for a variety of festive occasions in life, including weddings, milestone birthdays and anniversaries.The Korean term “Janchi” literally means a feast, or a joyous get-together where people share food and exchange best wishes. For those who are interested in Korea’s traditional form of
June 8, 2012
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Questions for author Kate Bornstein
“I was a Scientologist for 12 years, which is a lot more embarrassing than saying Hi, I’m a transsexual SM dyke living with borderline personality disorder,” Kate Bornstein tells on the release of her memoir, “A Queer and Pleasant Danger.” Embodying not just gender ― but the range of gender ― is just a fraction of Bornstein’s complex, complete, utterly compelling persona; she is also the embodiment of a mind steeped in pop culture, past and present.1. The latest book or movie that made you cry?O
June 8, 2012
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Graphic novel about the Beatles
Baby’s in BlackBy Arne Bellstorf (First Second Books)Arne Bellstorf’s sad, magically charming graphic novel about the Beatles in Hamburg ― when the band’s then-bassist Stuart Sutcliffe fell in love with German photographer Astrid Kirchherr ― evokes the innocence and romantic hunger of youth with quiet, heart-tugging grace.The period is 1960-62, when the Beatles were playing nightly in a rathole on the Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s tough red-light district, the crucible in which the band’s world-shatteri
June 1, 2012
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America’s unusual innovator
Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious ManBy Mark Kurlasnky (Doubleday)With “Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man,” Mark Kurlansky takes a detour from his food biographies (“Cod,” “Salt,” “The Big Oyster”) to profile Clarence Birdseye, the man credited with launching America’s frozen-food industry. As the subtitle suggests, Birdseye had a wide-ranging curiosity about nature. This led him into many activities, including hunting, taxidermy, research into tick-borne disease, fur farming, whale
June 1, 2012
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Novelist James Patterson preaches the power of kids’ books
James Patterson has written so many books, he’s lost track of the exact number. Ask him how many novels he’s penned for 2012 alone and he shrugs, then guesses: “Twelve or 13?”Often derided as a “factory” for being so prolific, Patterson has written more than 70 novels and sold more than 260 million copies ― far more than any living writer. And at 65, he shows no sign of easing up. If anything, his pace seems to be quickening, especially with children’s books, which he began writing in 2007 after
June 1, 2012
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Korean-American author’s riveting tale of family secrets
Forgotten Country: A NovelBy Catherine Chung (Riverhead Books)Following the international success of local writer Shin Kyung-sook’s novel “Please Look after Mom,” another powerful work of fiction about a Korean family is drawing attention. Korean-American author Catherine Chung’s engrossing debut novel, “Forgotten Country,” tells the story of two sisters born in South Korea. They move to Michigan in the U.S. as young girls, following their parents who try to escape Korea’s turbulent political si
June 1, 2012
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Korean poems introduced in French literary journal Po&sie
Po&sie, a French literary journal, has published a special edition featuring works by South Korean poets and a literary review of Korean poems, the Daesan Foundation, which sponsored the publication, said Thursday.Daesan will also jointly organize four poetry reading events in France and Switzerland with Po&sie to commemorate the publication of the special edition.The special edition titled “Po&sie-Coree” is composed of two sections: Korean poems and reviews. The poetry of 27 South Korean poets
May 31, 2012
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Parents steal their twins’ childhood
Canada, By Richard Ford (Ecco)Some parents screw their kids up incrementally. Bev and Neeva Parsons manage to cram a life’s worth of trauma into a matter of days during the summer of 1960.The couple’s misadventures are told by their son Dell in “Canada,” Richard Ford’s 10th book.The hapless father, Bev (“He never conceded that Beverly was a woman’s name in most people’s minds”), and the bright but empathy-bereft Neeva dominate the first half of a riveting tale of lost innocence.The saga begins w
May 25, 2012
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Hitting for average
Calico Joe, By John Grisham (Doubleday)John Grisham is to literature what Cheerios are to a rushed breakfast, something you buy in bulk and consume without too much thought. Honestly, I’m relieved when a new Grisham book doesn’t weigh more than I do.Yet his newest work, “Calico Joe,” is as slender as a Dodgers shortstop. Coming in at under 200 pages, it is a breezy little baseball novel that will probably appeal to many men the way Nicholas Sparks’ stories appeal to that other sex.Strangely, con
May 25, 2012
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Asia journal dedicated to Korean literature
(Asia Literary Review) By Michael Breen et alAsia Literary Review, an English-language quarterly journal distributed globally, has dedicated its Spring 2012 issue to Korean literature.“Koreans are rightly proud of their unique culture and their literary heritage; they respect and appreciate their writers and poets,” wrote Ilyas Khan, the journal’s publisher.“And if any place could be described as a country of readers, it would be South Korea. Their writers, however, have yet to be discovered by
May 25, 2012
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New book reveals the fatherly side of Buzz Bissinger
Buzz Bissinger has already called someone a moron on Twitter this day, but really, the virtuosic vitriol that has characterized his Twitter feed has been somewhat subdued lately.Instead, Bissinger is sitting on a chair in a family room off the kitchen of his house in Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill neighborhood and talking about stuff so personal, so self-flagellating, that it would make you gasp if it weren’t comically shot through with F-bombs.Next to him is his son, Zach Bissinger, 28, well know
May 25, 2012
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Krys Lee talks about her literary obsession
Having overcome a troubled childhood, ‘Drifting House’ writer is fascinated by survivorsAuthor Krys Lee found out what her “obsessions” are after writing her first collection of stories. They are “survivors of different forms,” or “people who don’t quite belong.” And the Korean-American writer’s obsessions are evident in her powerful debut collection, “Drifting House” (Viking/Penguin Press). The stories take place in Korea, the U.S. and even North Korea, but all of her characters are struggling
May 22, 2012
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Korean children’s book published in Czech Republic
A children’s book by a Korean author was published in the Czech Republic last week, just in time for the country’s biggest international book fair.It is the first time a Korean work of children’s literature has been published in the Czech Republic.The book, titled “Dream about Joy of Music,” is written by children’s writer Park Eun-young and illustrated by Koo Bo-ram. The book chronicles the life of the legendary classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).The Czech Embassy in Seoul s
May 21, 2012
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Yul Kwon shares his troubled childhood
Reality TV star publishes his memoir in KoreaIt’s hard to imagine Korean-American reality TV star and former lawyer Yul Kwon being timid and quiet as a child.But his latest Korean-language memoir reveals something that most of the public, well-aware of Kwon’s academic and professional triumphs, would find a surprise.The 2006 “Survivor” winner and Yale Law School graduate said he had severe social anxiety disorders as a child, and was very often a target for bullying, in the book titled “I Evolve
May 20, 2012
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How cars, culture fueled our dreams
“Engines of Change” By Paul Ingrassia (Simon & Schuster)It would be impossible to count the number of automotive makes and models that have come and gone since the car was first invented ― or the number of books that have been written about them. The inescapable ubiquity of the automobile has made them, for better or worse, a sort of cultural fodder that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Ingrassia inventively exploits in “Engines of Change.”The question at the center of his treatise: Do car
May 18, 2012
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Life in a Shaker community
“A Simple Murder” By Eleanor Kuhns (Minotaur) During the mid-19th century, the Shakers were the largest and most successful utopian group in existence, with tight-knit communities scattered throughout the Northeast and in Kentucky. The religious sect, which began in England during the late 1700s, stressed equality of the sexes, pacifism and hard work. Sexual relations, even among married couples, were forbidden, making it a difficult religion for many to follow.Today, the Shakers are mainly reme
May 18, 2012