SOAS Centre of Korean Studies
in association with the Arts Council Korea and the Daesan Foundation


Literary Event with Korean Novelist Hwang Sok-yong


4.30pm-7.00pm
Wednesday, 14 December 2005


Khalili Lecture Theatre
SOAS, University of London
 
“Hwang Sok-yong is arguably Korea's most recognized and renowned author. 
Drawing artistic inspiration from his own experiences as a
vagabond day laborer, student activist, Vietnam War veteran, advocate for 
coal miners and garment workers, and political dissident,
he is embraced as a writer and champion of the people. His historical 
novel, Chang Kilsan, an extensive parable about a bandit that
described the contemporary dictatorship, was serialized in a daily paper 
from 1974 to 1984 and sold an estimated million copies in
North and South Korea. In 1993 there was international outcry when Hwang 
was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorized
trip to the North to promote exchange between artists in North and South 
Korea. In 1998, he was granted special pardon by the new
South Korean president. The recipient of Korea's highest literary prizes 
and shortlisted for the Prix Fémina Étranger, Hwang has
seen his novels and shorts stories published in North and South Korea, 
Japan, China, France, Germany, and the U.S. Hwang was born in
1943 in Xinjing, Manchuria (now Changchun, China).”                


—      ‘About the Author’ in Hwang Sok-yong’s The Guest published by Seven 
Stories Press (2005)



The SOAS Centre of Korean Studies has been honoured to host Mr Hwang Sok-
yong’s stay in London (as associate member of the Centre)
over the past two years. The Centre is pleased to host this event in honour 
of the celebrated novelist, who was shortlisted for this
year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, as he leaves London and SOAS for Paris 
where he will be affiliated with the University of Paris
VII over the next two years. 


Mr Hwang will discuss his works and read from his novel, The Guest, the 
English translation of which has been recently published by
Seven Stories Press.  A book signing and drinks reception will follow.


This event is kindly supported by the Arts Council Korea.
 
For further information or queries, please contact Grace Koh 
([log in to unmask]) 


ALL ARE WELCOME



__________________________________




Praise for Hwang Sok-yong and his novel, The Guest


“Hwang Sok-yong is undoubtedly the most powerful ‘voice of the novel’ in 
East Asia today…. The Guest is simply great.” [Kenzaburo
Oe, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature]


 “A ghost story of striking originality, The Guest is also an extremely 
relevant journey into the heart-break of collective violence
and possible redemption.” [Ariel Dorfman, author of Death and the Maiden 
and Mascara]


“Writing that refuses to ignore suffering, but at the same time refuses to 
let itself be destroyed by destruction—which is a great
challenge to any author.” [Le Figaro Litteraire]


“Hwang Sok-Yong is the most committed, politcally active writer of all 
those who have translated the Korean in recent years.”
[Libération]


“More has been expected of Hwang Sok-Yong than almost any other Korean 
writer of the past quarter century. Ever since the early
1970s, when Hwang began to write stories about the nameless millions on 
whose backs the Korean 'economic miracle' was realized, he
has been regarded as a champion of the people.” [Bruce Fulton in The 
Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature]



RELATED WEBSITES


Seven Stories Press (U.S. publishers for The Guest)


http://www.sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100929170
 
Zulma (French publishers for Hwang’s works in French translation)


http://www.zulma.fr/AuteursDetail.asp?Id_Personne=228 (in French)


 [English translation of the Zulma webpage, via Yahoo:


http://216.109.124.98/language/translatedPage?tt=url&text=http%
3a//www.zulma.fr/AuteursDetail.asp%3fId_Personne=228&lp=fr_en&.intl=u
k&fr=fp-tab-web-t-1]


Amnesty International Entry


http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/south_korea/document.do?
id=ADA72295FC38A184802569A600603979 


Der Spiegel Online (English version) Article about Hwang, 


“FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR SPECIAL: The Master of Survival”


http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,380632,00.html


Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley


http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2005.11.02-2.html




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AHRB Centre for Asian and African Literatures
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Fax: +44 (0) 20 7898 4239 or 4399
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