These are the covers of the English- (left) and Korean-language (right) editions of Chung Bora's short story collection "Cursed Bunny", which has been shortlisted for this year's International Booker Prize of the U.K. (Greenbook Agency)

By Park Hye Ri and Yoon Sojung

The publishing rights to "Cursed Bunny," which has been shortlisted this year for the prestigious International Booker Prize of the U.K., have been sold to the major American publisher Hachette Book Group.

Greenbook Agency, which handles publishing rights to Korean works overseas, on April 13 said, "Through an auction, Algonquin Books, a publisher handling editing under Hachette Book Group, bought the publishing rights to writer Chung Bora's 'Cursed Bunny' in North America." 

The deal includes the rights to the paperback, e-book and audio book editions.

Released in 2017, "Cursed Bunny" is a short story collection and the best-known work of Chung. Showing the author's outstanding skills in the sci-fi, horror and fantasy genres, the book features tales of curses and revenge.

Thanks to the sale of its publishing rights, the work will be published in 15 countries including the U.S. The rights have been or will be sold to publishers in countries like the U.K., China, Spain, Indonesia, Poland, Brazil, Albania, Romania, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Germany and Japan. 

Translated into English by Swedish-born Korean Anton Hur, "Cursed Bunny" has received heightened attention since it was shortlisted on April 7 as one of six finalists for this year's Booker in the international section.

The Booker Prize Foundation said the book "uses elements of the fantastic and surreal to address the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarchy and capitalism in modern society."

The Booker is considered one of the world's top three literary awards along with the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Prix Goncourt of France. "Cursed Bunny" is the third Korean work to be shortlisted for the Booker, with the first two being "Vegetarian" and "The White Book" both by Han Kang.

hrhr@korea.kr