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 The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to write ...

in 2012 for '' Please Look After Mom''.

Life

Kyung-sook Shin was born in 1963 in a village near

Jeongeup Jeongeup (; ), is a city in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. The city limits include Naejang-san National Park, a popular destination particularly in autumn due to its foliage. Jeongeup is on the Honam Expressway and Honam Line, with the ...

North Jeolla Province North Jeolla Province, officially Jeonbuk State (), is a Special Self-governing Province of South Korea in the Honam region in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula. Jeonbuk borders the provinces of South Chungcheong to the north, North Gyeo ...

in southern

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. She was the fourth child and oldest daughter of six. At sixteen she moved to

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, where her older brother lived. She worked in an electronics plant while attending night school. She made her literary debut in 1985 with the novella ''Winter’s Fable'' after graduating from the

Seoul Institute of the Arts Seoul Institute of the Arts () is an arts university in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The Namsan campus in Seoul is used for presentation of arts productions and convergence with industry. The Ansan Campus opened in 2001 and is used for ...

as a

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

major. Along with Kim Insuk and

Gong Ji-young Gong Jiyeong (; born January 31, 1963) is a South Korean novelist. Life Gong Jiyeong was interested in literature from an early age, and while still a teenager, self-published her own stories and poems.Korean Writers and Novelists. Minumsa Pub ...

, Kyung-sook Shin is one of the group of female writers known as the

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 ...

Career

Kyung-sook Shin won the Munye Joongang New Author Prize for her novella ''Winter Fables''. She has won a wide variety of literary prizes, including the Today’s Young Artist Award from the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; ''

Hankook Ilbo ''Hankook Ilbo'' () is a Korean-language daily newspaper in Seoul, South Korea. As of 2017, it had a daily circulation of about 213,200. It was previously published by the Hankook Ilbo Media Group, however following an embezzlement scandal i ...

'' Literature Prize; Hyundae Literature Award; Manhae Literature Prize;

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- ...

;

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 ...

; and the Oh Yeongsu Literature Prize. In 2009 the French translation of her work ''A Lone Room'', ''La Chambre solitaire'', was one of the winners of the

Prix de l'inaperçu Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

, which recognizes excellent literary works which have not yet reached a wide audience. The international rights to the million-copy bestseller '' Please Look After Mother'' was sold in 19 countries, including the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and various countries in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, beginning with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The book was translated into English by

Chi-young Kim Chi-young Kim is a Korean-to-English literary translator who lives in the United States. Originally having trained as a lawyer and translating as a hobby helping her mom, Kim became a professional literary translator after graduation, when sh ...

, and released on March 31, 2011. Kyung-sook Shin won the 2011

for '' Please Look After Mom'', the first woman to do so.

Controversy

On June 16, 2015, The Huffington Post Korea reported that Kyung-sook Shin had plagiarized

Yukio Mishima Kimitake Hiraoka ( , ''Hiraoka Kimitake''; 14 January 192525 November 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima ( , ''Mishima Yukio''), was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Ultranationalism (Japan), ultranationalis ...

's passage from the short story ''

Patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

'' in her book ''Legend''. Shin apologised; her publisher withdrew a collection of her short stories.

Works

Novels * ''Winter Fable'' (, 1990) * ''Deep Sorrow'' (, 1994) * ''A Lone Room'' (, 1995) ** translated as ''The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness'' by Ha-Yun Jung (Pegasus Books, 2015) * ''Long Ago, When I Left My Home'' (, 1996) * ''The Train Departs at 7'' (, 1999) * ''Violet'' (, 2001) ** translated as ''Violets'' by

Anton Hur Anton Hur (; born April 7, 1981) is a Korean writer and translator of Korean literature into English. He has translated the works of Kyung-Sook Shin, Hwang Sok-yong, and Sang Young Park, whose '' Love in the Big City'' was longlisted for the ...

(

Feminist Press The Feminist Press at CUNY is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher of the City University of New York, based in New York City. It primarily publishes feminist literature that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. The ...

, 2022) * ''J's Story'' (, 2002) * ''Yi Jin'' (, 2007) ** translated a
''The Court Dancer''
by

(Pegasus Books, 2018) * ''Please Look After Mom'' (, 2009) ** translated as ''Please Look After Mom'' by

Chi-Young Kim Chi-young Kim is a Korean-to-English literary translator who lives in the United States. Originally having trained as a lawyer and translating as a hobby helping her mom, Kim became a professional literary translator after graduation, when sh ...

(

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

, 2011) * ''I'll Be Right There'' (, 2010) ** translated a
''I'll Be Right There''
by

Sora Kim-Russell Sora Kim-Russell (; born 1976) is a Korean American writer and translator from California, currently residing in Seoul. She received an MA in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and has translated a number of prominent Korean writers, inc ...

(

Other Press Other Press is an independent publisher of literary fiction and non-fiction, based in New York City. Founded in 1998 to publish academic and psychoanalytic titles, Other Press has since expanded to publish novels, short stories, nonfiction, poet ...

, 2014) * ''The Unknown Women'' (, 2011) * ''Stories I Wish To Tell the Moon'' (, 2013) * ''I Went To See My Father'' (, 2021) ** translated as ''I Went To See My Father'' by

( Astra House and

Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld ...

, 2023) Short stories * "Where the Harmonium Once Stood" (, 1993) ** translated as ''The Place Where the Harmonium Was'' by Agnita Tennant in the Modern Korean Literature Series (

ASIA Publishers ASIA Publishers () is a Seoul-based book publisher best known for producing multi-volume series of translated Korean literature in bilingual format, generally at novella length and usually featuring a short biography of the author, a background of ...

, 2012) * "Potato Eaters" (, 1997) * "Until It Turns into a River" (, 1998) * "Strawberry Fields" (, 2000) * "The Sound of Bells" (, 2003) Non-fiction * ''Beautiful Shade'' (, 1995) * ''Sleep, Sorrow'' (, 2003)

Awards

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 ...

(1995) * Manhae Award for Literature (1996) *

(1997) * 21st Century Literature Award (2000) *

(2001) * Oh Young-su Literary Award (2006) *

(2009) * Republic of Korea Culture and Arts Award (2011) *

(2012) * Mark of Respect Award (2012) * Seoul Foreign Correspondents Club Foreign Public Relations Award – Literary Section (2012) * Ho-Am Prize – Literature Award (2013)

References

External links

Interview with Kyung-Sook Shin

Review of "I'll Be Right There" at KTLIT

External links

KTLIT's "Shin Kyoung-sook" page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shin, Kyung-Sook 1963 births South Korean novelists South Korean women writers Living people Yi Sang Literary Award winners Recipients of the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts Pyongsan Shin clan

Life

Career

Controversy

Works

Awards

See also

References

External links

External links