VOL.70/2024.05

The Bird That Drinks Tears, Flying Around the World

2024.05.07

Sometimes, a project comes across your desk as an editor that immediately catches your eye. Maybe it’s the title, or the author, or the pitch that was written to suck you in. With The Bird That Drinks Tears (Minumsa Publishing), it was definitely the latter for me, specifically the idea of “the Korean Lord of the Rings.”
Okay—that got my attention. Diving into the manuscript, then, I was blown away by the depth of the world and how fascinating the characters were. And yet, while Lee Young-do is certainly a Tolkien in breadth and spirit, he’s also distinctly Korean in the best possible way. This wasn’t just another Western fantasy retread, but a purely new read for me, and that was exciting. The “if you haven’t read it before, it’s new to you” vibe was strong, and I found myself sucked into the narrative.

I knew I had to get this out for an American audience. Along with my U.K. colleague, Natasha Bardon, we made this an important project to add to the Harper Voyager list. Again, we started with the fact that this series is such a crucial piece of the Korean fantasy canon. We also have made an effort to get more translated works onto our respective lists. In both cases, there is the mindset of expanding our readership beyond the fantasy and science fiction they know, and acknowledging that these genres are truly global; that the stories of heroism, adventure, and magic are universal, no matter where the writer is from. Lee Young-do has written novels that should be beloved fantasy books, period—not simply beloved in Korea.
We wanted to be part of the reason The Bird That Drinks Tears finds its way into the worldwide fantasy canon. I have no doubt it will. To that end, we’re excited to have an amazing translator on board, Anton Hur, someone who is a fan of the material and can bring to life Lee Young-do’s words for English readers. We see these as important hardcover releases here in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. We are already working on potential cover artists to encapsulate the novels’ origins while also capturing the attention of our particular markets. To us, it will be as much about introducing the world to the story as it is to Lee Young-do and his legacy, and we’re excited to be able to do both.

* K-Book Trends Vol. 37 – Go to the introduction of translator Anton Hur

* K-Book Trends Vol. 47 – Go to the article about Korean books recommended by translator Anton Hur

We cannot wait for more readers to experience the joy and wonder I felt upon first reading The Bird That Drink Tears, and I think 2025 is going to be an amazing year for this modern classic to find an even bigger audience.

Written by Pomerico, David (HarperCollins Publishers)