Kim Insuk () is a South Korean writer.

Life

Kim Insuk was born in 1963 in Seoul. She suffered the death of her father when she was five years old. She spent her childhood under the mother of a hostess. She graduated from

Jinmyeong Girls' High School Jinmyeong Girls' High School () is a private girls high school located in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The school was originally established in 1906 with financial support from Imperial Consort Sunheon, princess Consort Eom (Princess Sunheo ...

and Yonsei University. She is an author from the Korean

386 generation The 386 Generation () is the generation of South Koreans born in the 1960s who were very active politically as young adults, and instrumental in the democracy movement of the 1980s. The 386 Generation takes a critical view of the United States and ...

(Coin termed in the early 1990s describing writers who were in their 30s, attended university in the 1980s, and born in the 1960s). She, along with

Shin Kyung-sook Kyung-sook Shin, also Shin Kyung-sook or Shin Kyoung-sook (, born 12 January 1963), is a South Korean writer. She was the only South Korean and only woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012 for '' Please Look After Mom''. Life Kyung-so ...

and Gong Ji-young, is one of the prominent new wave of female writers from that group. Kim began her writing career early, making her literary debut when she had just entered university, at the age of 20 (Korean age in 1983, when she won Chosun Ilbo Literary Contest). She has won all three of Korea's major literary awards, the

Yi Sang Literary Award The Yi Sang Literary Award (이상문학상) is a South Korean literary award. It is one of South Korea's most prestigious literary awards, named after Yi Sang, an innovative writer in modern Korean literature. The Yi Sang Literary Award was esta ...

Dong-in Literary Award The Dong-in Literary Award () is a South Korean literary award named after novelist Kim Dong-in, established in order to honour the literary achievement of The Republic of Korea. In commemoration of the Korean modern literature pioneer, Kim Dong- ...

, and Daesan, and she has had more than 30 books published. She has also lived in China in this decade; and in Spring 2011 was living in Dalian with her daughter.

Work

Unusually, Kim's work focuses extensively on the experience of Korean expatriates. In fact, her book ''The Long Road'' (which won the

Hankook Ilbo Literary Award The Hankook Ilbo Literary Award (한국일보문학상) is a South Korean literature, South Korean literary award. It is one of South Korea's most prestigious literary awards, established in 1968 by Hankook Ilbo. It is awarded annually to the creati ...

the same year it was published) is the only piece of “expat” Korean fiction that has been translated into English. That book is among her fiction that draws the time she spent living in Australia in the 1990s. In 2003 Kim won the Yi Sang Literary award for her work ''Ocean and Butterfly'' (''Bada-wa nabi'') and in 2010 she won the Dong-in Literary Award for ''Bye, Elena'' (''Annyeong, ellena''). Her latest work in Korean, ''To Be Insane'' (''Michil su issgessni, i salm-e'') had its publication delayed at Kim's request.Korea Herald Online: http://www.koreaherald.com/lifestyle/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110610000600 The story featured a massively destructive earthquake and tsunami, and Kim believed that it would have been inappropriate to release this work just after the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan.

Works in Translation

*
The Long Road
'(MerwinAsia, 2010) * ''Stab'' (ASIA PUBLISHERS, 2013)

Works in Korean (Partial)

Novels

* ''Bloodline'' (''Pitjul'' 1983) * '' '79-'80 Between Winter and Spring'' ('' '79-'80 Gyeoul-eseo bom sai'' 1987) * ''So I Embrace You'' (''Geuraesea neo-reul anneunda'' 1993) * ''The Long Road'' (''Meon gil'' 1995) * ''Flower's Memory'' (''Kkot-ui gieok'' 1999) * ''To Be Insane'' (''Michil su issgessni, i salm-e'') * ''Ocean and Butterfly'' (''Bada-wa nabi'') * ''That Woman's Autobiography'' (2005) * ''Bye, Elena'' (''Annyeong, ellena'' 2009) * ''Sohyeon''(2010) * ''To Be Insane''(2011)

Short stories

* ''Blade and Love'' (''Kallal-gwa sarang'' 1993) * ''Glass Shoes'' (''Yuri Gudu'' 1998) * ''Waiting for a Brass Band'' (''Brass Band-reul gidarimyeo'' 2001)

Awards

* Yu Ju-hyeon Literature Prize (1984) * Republic of Korea Literary Art Prize (1993) *

(1995) * Isan Literature Prize (1996) *

Contemporary Literature (Hyundae Munhak) Award The company Contemporary Literature (“Hyundae Munhak” in Korean language, Korean), founded in South Korea in 1954, is one of the leading publishing companies in the literary field and has been publishing the nation's most prestigious monthly l ...

(2000) *

(2003 for ''Ocean and Butterfly'') * Yi Soo Literary Award (2005) * Daesan Literary Award (2006) *

(2010 for ''Bye, Elena'') *

Hwang Sun-won Hwang Sun-wŏn (; March 26, 1915 – September 14, 2000) was a Korean short story writer, novelist, and poet."황순원" biographical PDF available at LTI Korea Library or online at: Life Hwang was born while Korea was under Japanese coloni ...

Literary Prize (2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Insuk 1963 births South Korean novelists Living people Writers from Seoul