VOL.74/2024.09

#Minorities in society

KPIPA introduces K-Books for global publishing markets through K-Book Platform

 

2020.08.03

 

Greatest Fish

1. Publication Details

Title | Greatest Fish
Author | Gu Byungmo
Publisher | Wisdomhouse Mediagroup Inc.
Publication Date | 2018-03-30
ISBN | 9791162203392
No. of pages | 220
Dimensions | 128 * 188

 

2. Copyright Contact

Name | Julia Kwon
Email | ohappyday@wisdomhouse.co.kr
Phone | +82-31-936-4199

 

3. Book Intro

Gon breathes through gills and swims in a deep, blue lake with his scales shining. He has hidden himself from the world and lived a secluded life, feeling limitless freedom underwater. Kangha gives Gon a new name and life. Haeryu escapes death, rescued by Gon. Great Fish is a mysterious and beautiful story about people who have been abandoned and isolated in the world yet desperately hope to keep breathing, even if they have to live their lives underwater.

* http://k-book.or.kr/user/books/books_view?idx=467

 

 

Summer Outside

1. Publication Details

Title | Summer Outside
Author | Kim Aeran
Publisher | Munhakdongne Publishing Group
Publication Date | 2017-06-28
ISBN | 9788954646079
No. of pages | 272

 

2. Copyright Contact

Name | Kate Han
Email | rights@munhak.com
Phone | +82-31-955-2635

 

3. Book Intro

This collection features seven works, including the 37th Yi Sang Literary Award winner The Future of Silence and the 8th Young Writer Award winner Where Would You Like to Go?
The Onset of Winter, the first featured work, follows the painful life of a young couple who lost their child in an accident. Kim leads readers into sympathizing with the pain of others and shows how we turn our heads away when the pain exceeds what we are willing to bear.
Covering Hand tells the story of an elderly person who dies during a tussle with a group of teenagers. Jay, the son of the main character and witness to the incident, becomes subject to unfair prejudice simply because he comes from a multi-cultural family. Instead of moving the character into a pure narrative without prejudices, however, Kim Aeran introduces the possibility of binding him into another difficult situation of prejudice. Through this story, readers will realize that we all have a tendency to assume and judge casually and be dismayed at the thought of trying to sympathize with others in the simplest, most convenient way.
Summer Outside tells stories of multifaceted people, from those whom we thought we knew well to others we thought had nothing to do with us. It can be considered a result of the effort to create a new narrative instead of relying on existing ones to reach out to others.
Since she first came onto the scene, Kim Aeran has given readers a special experience, a feeling of intimacy that arises when we read about our current place in life through our native language. This is true even if that place were at the edge of a steep, unstable cliff and the language were that of the last remaining speaker on earth and undeliverable to others. Summer Outside contains seven such stories, all written with a loving embrace of ambiguity.

* http://k-book.or.kr/user/books/books_view?idx=706

 

 

Human Acts

1. Publication Details

Title | Human Acts
Author | Han Kang
Publisher | Changbi Publishers, Inc.
Publication Date | 2014-05-19
ISBN | 9788936434120
No. of pages | 215
Dimensions | 145 * 210

 

2. Copyright Contact

Name | Bang Ally
Email | aerim@changbi.com
Phone | +82-70-4838-4971

 

3. Book Intro

Han Kang sheds a new light on the May 18th Gwangju Democratization Movement through her dedicated efforts to see through the structure of wounds. Her story about a fifteen-year-old boy, which was published in “Windows,” a literary blog managed by Changbi Publishing from November 2013 to January 2014, has gained a lot of attention.
Han Kang prompts people who are living without remembering May 18th to bring the day back into their memories, using sentences that deliver the messages of the innocent souls while comforting those who have been leading hard lives and still suffering from the trauma of May 18th.
Human Acts vividly portrays the inner pain of those who have survived the Gwangju Upspring and includes a character named Dongho, a middle school student who has fought against a military army. Her thorough description of the horrible situations “evokes certain sensations in readers and calls for them to remember the historical facts we must hold onto” (from the commentary by a literary critic Baek Jiyeon).
As the author confessed that she “could not avoid writing this novel” and “felt as if I won’t be able to go anywhere without passing through this story,” Human Acts is the work that expanded her literary world. As put by a literary critic Shin Hyeongcheol, “Han Kang’s novel surpasses Han Kang herself.”

* http://k-book.or.kr/user/books/books_view?idx=498

 

 

Misook's Year

1. Publication Details

Title | Misook's Year
Author | Jung Won
Publisher | Changbi Publishers, Inc.
Publication Date | 2019-04-25
ISBN | 9788936458843
No. of pages | 316
Dimensions | 149 * 210

 

2. Copyright Contact

Name | Bang Ally
Email | aerim@changbi.com
Phone | +82-70-4838-4971

 

3. Book Intro

The main character of Misook's Year, Misook, represents the hearts and daily life of us, who have gone through the tough days as an adolescent. Misook spends her adolescence exposed to various forms of violence in everyday life. Her father does not want a daughter, yet favors a son, and often gets in a fight with his wife. One day, he throws the book Non-possession to Misook and she gets a scar on cheeks. Her sister, who has been defiant recently, is too strange and Misook is always teased with the nickname "premature baby" (Misook-a sounds like this in Korea) by her friends.
Misook, however, shrugs it all off. She doesn't want to be like everyone else. She doesn't want to hurt anyone. Misook, the delicate observer, watches her sister habitually pinch her thighs whenever she is anxious or afraid, understands her mother's anguish, and embraces the dog, Jeolmi, that her father abandoned. The reader soon realizes that this immature teen, often teased as a "premature baby," is actually more mature and stronger than anyone.
The teenage years are a special time to dream of the wider world. The book Misook's Year presents the growth of Misook and her classmate Jaei, unfolding the process of them becoming adults through stinging growing pains. The wild and straightforward transfer student, Jaei, approaches Misook, who has recently become a middle school student. Misook approaches to Jaei carefully. Jaei is the only person who becomes friends with Misook when she feels left out of the world. Misook and Jaei take a step outside of this world for the first time by watching a movie in a theater, riding the subway, and dyeing their hair. Was it friendship or maybe love? These two emotions, which are difficult to define, sometimes brings warmth and sometimes danger. Misook, suffered from unexpected wounds, boldly breaks up with Jaei.

* http://k-book.or.kr/user/books/books_view?idx=2221

 

 

Love in a Big City

1. Publication Details

Title | Love in a Big City
Author | Park Sangyoung
Publisher | Changbi Publishers, Inc.
Publication Date | 2019-06-28
ISBN | 9788936437978
No. of pages | 344
Dimensions | 128 * 188

 

2. Copyright Contact

Name | Bang Ally
Email | aerim@changbi.com
Phone | +82-70-4838-4971

 

3. Book Intro

In Jaehee, a gay male protagonist lives with an alumna named Jaehee. He and Jaehee, who are "unthinkingly in tune," chat about the men they meet and share each other's secrets. The two started to live together when Jaehee is threatened by a stalker. The two share their big 20s events, from Jaehee's pregnancy and abortion, to the death of the narrator's lover and his literary debut. Their eventful youth eventually ends up with Jaehee's marriage.The author depicts the whole process in a humorous and engaging way. And the ending leaves a reader with a strong emotion.
A Piece of Rockfish, the Taste of the Universe is recognized as the best of 4 short stories, quoted as "the longest and most overwhelmingly beautiful work in this collection" (Kang Ji-hee, commentary). "Young," the female narrator, cares for his mother with terminal cancer. One day, she receives a letter from a man who she loved so much for five years. She first met him in a philosophy lecture. But the more she knew him, the more mysterious she felt about him. He still does not forget his past when he was a student activist for democracy. He scolds her for loving America and doubt whether the government is still watching him. He is gay but he does not admit it.
Love in a Big City and Vacation Late in the Rainy Season are directly connected. The protagonist of the former spends most of his time getting drunk in a club, has a job of selling a play pamphlet but it does not sell at all, write "garbage," and keeps it a secret that he is infected with HIV due to his partner's carelessness. Having a crush on a club bartender, Kyuho, he confesses his love and the two begin dating. Vacation Late in the Rainy Season is the story of the narrator going to Bangkok alone. The story is centered on the speaker's footsteps, recalling the brilliant moments spent with Kyuho in Bangkok. Unlike other novels, it focuses on the emotions of loss and loneliness without laughter. The short confession at the ending leaves a reader with a strong emotion.

* http://k-book.or.kr/user/books/books_view?idx=2227

 

 

Anyway, Vegan

1. Publication Details

Title | Anyway, Vegan
Subtitle | Are You Connected, Too?
Author | Kim Hanmin
Publisher | Hugo Publishing
Publication Date | 2018-11-25
ISBN | 9791186602447
No. of pages | 175
Dimensions | 110 * 178

 

2. Copyright Contact

Name | Cho Sojung
Email | hugo@hugobooks.co.kr
Phone | +82-31-946-9276

 

3. Book Intro

Kim Hanmin, a unique graphic novel writer and activist with the marine environmental group Sea Shepherds, builds his story step by step in this book about how he once enjoyed meat before becoming vegan, how he manages to uphold his values, and eventually how animals have approached him. The book also suggests ways to practice small efforts of veganism, and helps you become a vegan slowly without getting burdened with perfection. The final section presents the logic and philosophy of veganism through frequently asked questions. More than anything, Kim emphasizes that the purpose of vegans is not to achieve perfection, but to resolve to practice a healthier, ethical life and minimize the suffering of the planet and animals.

* http://k-book.or.kr/user/books/books_view?idx=2217

 

 

Experts of the Low Season

1. Publication Details

Title | Experts of the Low Season
Author | Kim Hanmin
Publisher | Workroom Press
Publication Date | 2016-11-25
ISBN | 9788994207735
No. of pages | 160
Dimensions | 175 * 260

 

2. Copyright Contact

Name | Park Hwalsung
Email | 03@wkrm.kr
Phone | +82-2-6013-3246

 

3. Book Intro

All forms of life as we know it have one common feature: the basic ability to get on with their lives. Despite the myriad differences and idiosyncrasies present in the vast number of individuals on this planet, at least one thing is a given: a mind embedded with a fundamental yearning for pleasure and happiness aligned with the body that it is housed in. Because to live is to be subjective, or to be naturally in oneself, instead of being on the outside looking in.
Yet that seems to be the case for one strange person, whom the author has succeeded in documenting after years of painstaking and persistent investigation. Experts of the Low Season is a graphic reportage on the existence and thoughts of an unadjusted man, a strange specimen to arrive at this stage of mankind given the long history of natural selection.
The brief period of time he occupies is deemed the low season, the opposite totality from where the rest of the world is moving to. And being the only known member of this aberrant species, he himself and the observant author naturally comprise the only experts of this unknown phenomenon.
Consisting mostly of private dossiers procured after his sudden disappearance, this collection of writings and drawings provide a rare glimpse into the workings of a quasi-vital, objectified mind, so removed from its anatomy that he cannot come to terms with his own language, movements, even his heartbeat. The fatigue or habituation desperately needed to 'get on' was somehow left out in his making, and instead a condition of constant acute awareness is grafted in its place, leaving him no choice but to exhaustively face every facet of his alienated being.
As the world chugs along in proud confidence towards the high season of things, he finds himself not just left behind, but doggedly heading off in the opposite direction. In this great void of meaning and merit, he asks how it is possible to be, without being able to affirm anything.
After tearing himself from his only ties with his homeland, a dog and a crippled condor, he finds temporary refuge in Portugal, where through dark musings and deep confabulations he succeeds in narrowing down the three things he can be positive about. Trash, animals and poetry. The most abhorred, the most silent, and the most man-made. Yes, there was at least this that was worth doing, worth living even. He could become a trash collector. He could sweep up the debris of existence, pick up the neglected dead animals, and string them together into the plastic bag of poetry. The New Life. New Trash.

* http://k-book.or.kr/user/books/books_view?idx=2247

 

 

The Bleached

1. Publication Details

Title | The Bleached
Author | Jang Kangmyung
Publisher | Hankyoreh Publishing Company
Publication Date | 2011-07-22
ISBN | 9788984314818
No. of pages | 352
Dimensions | 150 * 210

 

2. Copyright Contact

Name | JEONG Seonjae
Email | Seonjae@hanibook.co.kr
Phone | +82-2-6373-6740

 

3. Book Intro

Beating out over 240 contenders to take the 16th Hankyoreh Literary Prize, The Bleached not only scored a unanimous victory but made a lasting impression on judges. The work was hailed as “a masterpiece guaranteed to spark heated debate not only in the world of Korean literature, but society as a whole,” “the most problematic work in years,” and “a disturbing but tragic portrait of today’s nihilistic youths.” It received the full support of the preliminary judges and the recommendations of the second-round judges.
The title The Bleached refers to the young adults of the “bleached generation”—characters born into a complete, immaculate world with no space for their contributions. As a result, they believe they have no choice but to be “bleached” by society. Proclaiming that the only way to express themselves is to reach the pinnacle of success before committing suicide, the characters post notices on the website whydoyoulive.com and take their own lives within the next 24 hours.
The Bleached takes an unflinching look at the despair of being denied the right to dream. Jang has painted a masterful portrait of young adults today as they struggle each day with unavoidable, bleached futures looming overhead.

* http://k-book.or.kr/user/books/books_view?idx=2533

 

 

In-between Seasons

1. Publication Details

Title | In-between Seasons
Author | Lee Dongeun
Publisher | ESOOPE
Publication Date | 2013-11-15
ISBN | 9788994228808
No. of pages | 296
Dimensions | 148 * 210

 

2. Copyright Contact

Name | Kim MoonYoung
Email | esoope@naver.com
Phone | +82-10-9808-5580

 

3. Book Intro

The depth of life said by things that can't be said!
You are hurt as much as you love someone, and you are disappointed as much as you expect. A husband insists on working abroad, making excuses. A son feels attracted to the same sex. The son's friend survived the traffic accident without any injuries, even though her son was on the brink of death in the same accident……. The psychological pain and conflict experienced by a middle-aged woman is deep. But the husband, the son,and the son's friends live also with pain and repentance, just like the woman.They just don't say it aloud as this woman does. The artist, who shows remarkable restraint in this work, doesn't let the characters put any emotion in to the language. Their small gestures, subtle expressions, and words of regret only allow the reader to guess the details of the emotional ups and downs. Thus, in this work, love and pain, resentment and regret only shine in various places and do not define or fix the relationships between the characters. Maybe for that reason, just as the snow accumulated on the slope melts in the sun in spring, forgiveness and reconciliation that seemed impossible will find their way to the characters. And as all things are, and as life always is, they will escape from the shackles of love and hatred and return to their daily lives. Like a subtle psychological drama, this books captures the reader with a power greater than what is said or not.

* http://k-book.or.kr/user/books/books_view?idx=2255

 

 

Bad Friends

1. Publication Details

Title | Bad Friends
Author | Ancco
Publisher | Changbi Publishers, Inc.
Publication Date | 2012-08-10
ISBN | 9788936472177
No. of pages | 181
Dimensions | 172 * 238

 

2. Copyright Contact

Name | Bang Ally
Email | aerim@changbi.com
Phone | +82-70-4838-4971

 

3. Book Intro

At the age of sixteen, Jinjoo, who had suffered violence from her father, became a friend with the troublemaker Jungae. The two agree to leave their disgusting houses and school and run away together. They find work at a karaoke bar through Jungae's friend, but Jinjoo was not good at work and they got fired. They got a job in other karaoke bar, but Jinjoo again made a foolish mistake and they are found to be minors. They were advised not to work in such bar and came back to home. Unlike Jinjoo, who had a caring mother and sister, Jungae had only a runaway mother, a violent and poor father, and a younger sister. Jungae's mother suddenly returns home and asks for a divorce, which throws the house into terrible confusion. After that, Jungae disappeared from school and home. There were rumors that some people saw her, but she never comes back. Meanwhile, Jinjoo enters a high school but she continues to make trouble.
And years later, Jinjoo, who has become a cartoonist, runs into a middle school friend who works at a bank. And she heard that she saw Jungae's sister, Junghee, working at a brothel behind the bank. Jinjoo looks back on her past and thinks that Jungae might still remainin that miserable world. Later, by chance, in the bus, Jinjoo finds Jungae with her child on her back, but can't bring herself to say anything.
The writer's unusual school days and uncomfortable family life have already been confessed in Nineteen. Yet, this work, which tells about how she made it through those times and became who she is today, and what she feels about while looking back on at such time, shows how Ancco has moved from girl to lady and to adult.

* http://k-book.or.kr/user/books/books_view?idx=2225

 

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