VOL.69/2024.04

Korean Authors

 

Writer Yi Hyeon

 

2021.12.06

 

 

Please introduce yourself to our readers.

 

Hello, My name is Yi Hyeon, author of children’s books and youth novels. Nice to meet you.

 

Why do you write youth novels?

 

People often talk about middle schoolers’ 'puberty', 'youth', and 'the young generation' as if they were disorders, and always look at the young in such a way. Also, there seems to be a tendency to generalize about young people. Such is the world of youth. So, I wanted to write youth’s stories. That's also why I have recently been meeting with some students.

 

Do you remember any young adults?

 

I heard the “dating story” of a child in the third year of high school. It was a love story that hadn’t yet started. I listened and I was thrilled. And through his concerns he showed different thoughts. It was very nice to see the way he is being nurtured and developed.

 

How do you decide the story for your work?

 

When I see something interesting to me or an impressive thing, I think, ‘I want to tell the children about this.’ For Wanini the Green Lioness (Changbi Publishers, Inc.), I fell for the charm of the lioness and the Serengeti. Rather than having any special purpose. There are things that I just don’t forget. Then I think those things eventually become stories.

 

 

What did you think of when you went to the Serengeti?

 

I felt as though I had witnessed the whole world. The different species living in very diverse ways seemed right to me. When I came back, I thought about this. Like this, a species called humanity absolutely dominates this place and I thought “Is this space a strange place?” So what I felt the most for the world we live in was, “Living together is right.”
Another thing I felt is that the Serengeti is set in the very beautiful nature of Africa, and it has a very painful history and painful reality. I think I felt it so closely. But then, because of the itinerary, I wasn’t able to experience Africa as a whole – just the Serengeti. Although I regretted that, it was also such an amazing experience, the place I dreamed about and admired while writing Wanini.

 

What kind of writer do you want to be in the future?

 

There is no perfect work, so I can never promise myself or my readers that I will write a perfect piece. But I will always do my best to write books that I am not ashamed of. My goal is to write for as long as I can.

 

 

 

* The interview and video were produced as a part of the K-Book Online Marketing Support Project of the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea (KPIPA).

 

 

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