These are books by domestic authors that received or were nominated for international literature awards in the first half of this year. (Literature Translation Institute of Korea)

By Charles Audouin

The nation's literature keeps growing in popularity abroad.

The Literature Translation Institute (LTI) of Korea on July 1 said that in the first half of the year, three domestic literary works received prizes abroad and five were nominated for honors.

The poem collection "Phantom Pain Wings" by Kim Hyesoon (translated by Choi Don Mee) won the U.S. National Book Critics Circle Award; Han Kang's novel "I Do Not Bid Farewell" (Choi Kyungran and Pierre Bisiou) claimed France's Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature; and Hwang Bo-reum's novel "Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop" (Mika Makino) won the Japan Booksellers' Award.

Hwang Sok Yong's novel "Mater 2-10" was a finalist for the U.K. International Booker Prize.

"The Earth that Errs" (La Terre Qui Erre), a novel by Kim Soom, was nominated in the first round of the Guimet Prize and Ma Yeong-shin's graphic novel "Moms" was a finalist for the same award and a candidate for another at the Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.

The novel "Consultant" by Lim Sung Soon was shortlisted for the U.K. CWA (Crime Writers’ Association) Dagger Awards, whose winners will be announced on July 4.

Over the past decade, LTI Korea has supported the promotion of 1,138 Korean literary works abroad through its project of supporting translations and publications for foreign publishers. The number of applications skyrocketed from 13 in 2014 to 281 last year, with 160 received alone in the first half of this year.

Stressing that translation is important for Korean literature to gain popularity abroad, the institute said, "We will continue to train outstanding translators and support publications through translation academies so that excellent literary works advance abroad."

Oxford University of the U.K., meanwhile, hailed the full-length novel "Once We Look at the Same Star" by actor-writer Cha In-pyo as required reading. The plot is about Sooni, a woman who is discovered 70 years later on a small Philippine island after leaving her homeland. 

Describing what she went through as a youth in covering Japan's sexual slavery of Korean women in the early 20th century, the book is used in Korean studies classes at Oxford and is available at all libraries of the school.

caudouin@korea.kr