VOL.69/2024.04

Export Prospects of Korean Books

KPIPA’s Choice for Supporting Abstract · Sample Translation

 

2017.11.01

 

Mr. Madang’s Happy Days

1. Publication Details

Imprint | Wurinabi Publishing House

Title | Mr. Madang’s Happy Days

Author | Hong Yeon-sik

Illustrator | Hong Yeon-sik

Format | 150*210

Binding | Paperback

Pages | 420pages

ISBN | 979-11-86843-17-8

 

2. Contact

Name | Rosa Han

Phone | +82-70-8879-7093

Email | joerosa@hanmail.net

URL | http://blog.naver.com/michel61

 

3. About the Author / Illustrator

Hong Yeon-sik studied visual arts at Korea National University of Arts and made his debut as a graphic novel artist in the New Comics Writers Contest in 1992. Hong received the New Artists Award for Kiyora in 2001, and the best manhwa award from the Manhwa Today Contest forUncomfortably and Yet Happilyin 2012. Uncomfortably and Yet Happily has been translated and published into French, and the copyright for the English language version has been sold to Drawn and Quarterly Publishing Company. Hong’s next work, Yiranggorang Raccoon Couple, is scheduled to be published soon, and he is busy writing the third and last volume of Mr. Madang series.

 

4. About the Book

Mr. Madang’s Happy Days, the second book in the three-volume Mr. Madang series, is an autobiographical story of the writer as he tries his best to be a good father, husband, and son. The first book in the series, Mr. Madang’s Table, along with Uncomfortably and Yet Happily in which the writer tells a story of Mr. Madang’s simple but happy life in the countryside were translated into French and English. In the first book, the writer moves out to the countryside with his wife to start his new life, but he still struggles to put his past behind him as he is torn between love for his dying mother and hate for his ailing father. In the second book, he tells stories about his experiments and failures as a husband and father as he ponders on the meaning of family and happiness.In Mr. Madang’s Happy Days, the writer shares with readers his life in 2011. In the story, one year has passed since he lost his mother, his father moved into a public housing, and for the first time in his life, he is able to focus on his creative work without doing any other part time jobs. He lives in the countryside with his family, but the life in the countryside proves itself to be contrary to the idyllic picture he dreamt of. As the responsibility as a husband and father begins to weigh down on him, he must also deal with a cold reality of not being accepted as a member of the community as well as pollution which has made its way even into the countryside. However, he realizes that it is the trials and failures that strengthen the family bond and the happy days he spends with his family are the happiest days of his life.People these days dream of leaving the busy city life and of returning to or staring new in the countryside.
Mr. Madang’s Happy Days shows, however, that the life in the countryside is not as easy as people think. The writer tells stories from his own experiences of a dangerous landslide, factories and pig farms polluting the area, and unfriendly neighbors. At the same time, he finds out that it is also difficult to realize his dream of being the best dad and husband. Like the first book in the series, Hong’s stories are realistic; he is constantly confronted with two different choices, pursuing his ideals or making a compromise between reality and his ideals. His wife complains of not having enough time to do her work, he becomes exhausted from raising his first baby, and the life in the countryside turns out to be not as idyllic as he dreamed of; however, he comes to realize that he is still living the happiest days of his life because he spends every day with his family. The graphic novel asks readers to contemplate on the meaning of family and how it defines the meaning of happiness to many people.

 

 

Sunhee

1. Publication Details

Imprint | NEULPOOMPLUS

Title | Sunhee

Author | Lee Ju-Seong

Format | 152*225

Binding | Paperback

Pages | 446pages

ISBN | 979-11-85720-13-5

 

2. Contact

Name | Choi hyo-jun

Phone | +82-70-7090-1174

Email | go5326@naver.com

URL | http://www.npplus.co.kr

 

3. Marketing Information

Copies printed, bestseller ranking | 1,000 copies published

Award/recommendation/selection history| Grand prize from the Federation of Artistic & Cultural Organization of Korea (December 3, 2016)

Publication theme | Human rights status of North Korean women

Main readership | Women, ages 30 to 50

Media critique and advertisement copy | Two voices, one storyA heart-aching love story between two lovers in the land of despair, North KoreaHere, life still goes on

 

4. About the Author

Author Lee Ju-seong

Born in Pyongyang, June of 1965
Forcibly relocates to a coal mine in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province with parents in June of 1968
After graduating from secondary school in August of 1982, Lee works in mines, construction, fishing and machinery
Founds, manages trading entity from October of 2002
Defects from North Korea in January of 2006
As of May 25, 2017, Lee currently runs a North Korean human rights group, manages a farm and writes books

 

5. About the Book

Sunhee tells the sad love story between a man and a woman in the frozen lands of North Korea. The book is narrated by both the man and the woman, respectively named ‘Wonmyong’ and ‘Sunhee’. The divided narration does not aim to show the same incidents in the book through two different eyes, but rather focuses on the two telling the same story together.
Wonmyong meets Sunhee on a train so crowded he can barely move. They go about selling things together and amid their commiseration, he feels love for her. After a series of tumultuous events, they confirm their feelings for one another and attempt to start a family, but it proves a daunting task in North Korea where it is difficult to find one’s own path through life.
Sunhee, aiming to help Wonmyong, leaves for China to earn money. However, her new surroundings introduce her to hardship. The two voices in the book carry many wounds.
Despite their scars inflicted by dictatorship, stigma, poverty, lack of human rights, human trafficking and want of freedom, the two cannot let go of each other because of love. The two lovers’ words fill the hearts of readers as they tell the story of love amid despair throughout their narrative.

 

 

The Taste of Alsace

 

1. Publication Details

Imprint | Wurinabi Publishing House

Title | The Taste of Alsace

Author | Shin Yi-hyeon

Illustrator | Kim Yeon-su

Format | 156*210

Binding | Paperback

Pages | 436pages

ISBN | 979-11-86843-16-1

 

2. Contact

Name | Rosa Han

Phone | +82-70-8879-7093

Email | joerosa@hanmail.net

URL | http://blog.naver.com/michel61

 

3. About the Book

The stories in the graphic novel are autobiographical, based on the writer’s own experiences living in France with her French husband and his parents who live in Alsace. She tells stories of the four seasons that she spent with her parents-in-law, who are traditional, warm-hearted, and terribly loving.
Hyeon is a Korean woman who is married to a French man, Domi. They live in Paris, and Domi’s parents live in Alsace. To see his parents, Hyeon and her husband have to drive several hours to get to Alsace, but the trip is worth it, for Alsace is a place known for its unique culinary culture and tradition. Hyeon explains French dishes and homemade dishes that people in Alsace enjoy every day, including choucroute, flambé, and vin chaud, not to mention an assortment of wine, as Hyeon’s family shares food and memories together. The illustrations are done in pastel colors, a different pastel color for each season. Domi’s parents have lived their whole life in Alsace. Lucie is Domi’s mother, who always cooks up a storm for her family, and Raymond is his father, who worries about every little thing but whose heart overflows with love for his family. Hyeon finds her parents-in-law to be just like her own parents, who like to spend time with family sharing good food and wonderful memories.
People say that you need to spend at least four seasons with a person in order to get to know him or her. Hyeon and Domi come from two very different countries and cultures, and Hyeon spends four seasons with her parents-in-law, who teach her the names of flowers and fruits on Vosges Mountain and about growing vegetables in their vegetable garden. Born in Alsace, Domi’s parents have spent their whole life there, like many Korean parents who have lived their whole life in the hometown where they were born. And the history of Alsace was not a peaceful one. For example, The Last Lesson by Alphonse Daudet is set in Alsace when it fell under German control and the people of Alsace were prohibited from speaking French. Raymond tells Hyeon that his parents lived in the mountains and they only came down to town at the foot of the mountains to buy food. He also tells her that like his parents, all he wishes for in life is the happiness of his family, and this is why they cherish growing vegetables in their backyard and cooking in the kitchen for the family. When Hyeon and Domi visit, Lucie cooks for the whole family even if she has to put on a compression bandage around her wrist. And when Hyeon and Domi return to Paris, Domi’s mother packs their car with homemade food, just like Korean mothers who pack their children’s bags or cars with homemade bean or pepper paste, sesame oil, or anything they have in the kitchen.
The book provides a unique look into not only the life and culture of people living in Alsace but also into the life of a couple who come from very different cultures and the generational difference between the couple and the parents. The book also brims with sense of humor and introduces recipes for food and recipes for family happiness.

 

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