By Honorary Reporter Dovletoglou Eftychia from Greece

Photo = Dovletoglou Eftychia

To mark World Book Day (April 23), I present seven recommendations for Korean novels amid growing global interest in Korean literature.

The Interpreter (2003)

Author Suki Kim's work focuses on the Korean immigrant experience in America. The protagonist finds out hidden truths about the murder of her parents. This book won several awards in the U.S.

Please Look After Mom (2009)

For this book, writer Kyung-sook Shin in 2011 became the first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize. A family searches for a grandmother who disappears around Seoul Station, and her relatives reflect on their lives and how well they know each other. The book sold 10 million copies in Korea alone.

The Calligrapher's Daughter (2009)

Eugenia Kim's historical novel tells of the privileged daughter of a calligrapher in early 20th-century Korea whose mother fights for a better life for her child. The work was said to be inspired by the life of the author's mother.

Black Flower (2012)

Kim Young-ha's historical novel takes place in 1905. A group of Koreans immigrate to Mexico seeking work and a better life, only to undergo hardship in a foreign land. The book is also filled with facts on early Korean immigration to Mexico.

Pachinko (2017)

This novel by Korean American author Lee Min Jin has grown more popular as an American TV adaptation of the book is set for release this year. The work covers the lives of three generations of a Korean immigrant family in Japan. 

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (2016)

Cho Nam-Joo's international bestseller describes how hard life is for a woman even in modern Korea from childhood to adulthood. A critically and financially successful movie adaption of this feminist novel came out in 2019.

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly (2000)

Hwang Sun-mi's novel is full of emotion, and who would've guessed that readers would cry over a hen and her dreams. The book has won many awards and is one of the most popular Korean novels abroad.

enny0611@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.