Jo Nam-joo, Jung Yoo-jung, and Pyeon Hye-young Novels Nominated for French and German Literary Awards

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] Novels by authors Jo Nam-joo, Jung Yoo-jung, and Pyun Hye-young have been consecutively nominated for literary awards in Europe.

According to the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, Jo Nam-joo's novel "Kim Ji-young, Born 1982" was nominated for the French ?mile Guimet Asian Literature Prize, while Jung Yoo-jung's novel "The Origin of Species" and Pyun Hye-young's novel "Hole" were nominated for the German Liberatur Prize.

Jo Nam-joo's "Kim Ji-young, Born 1982" (Korean edition: Minumsa (2016) / French translation: Kim JiYoung, nee en 1982·NiL·2020) was selected as one of the 10 longlisted works (first-round nominees) for the French Guimet Asian Literature Prize.

The ?mile Guimet Asian Literature Prize is awarded at the Guimet Museum, a national museum of Asian arts located in Paris, France. Established in 2017 to promote Asian literature in France, the prize annually selects winners from contemporary Asian literary works translated and published in French within the past year. Among Korean works, Hwang Sok-yong's "Au Soleil Couchant" won the prize in 2018, and last year, Eun Hee-kyung's "Encouragez donc les garcons!" was selected as a finalist.

This year's French translation of "Kim Ji-young, Born 1982" was published in January by NiL, an imprint of the French publisher Robert Laffont, and has received great acclaim from the French media and readers. The prominent French literary magazine Lire introduced the novel as "a story dealing with social discrimination experienced by Korean women, conveying a universal message beyond the Korean prism to the world." The book review magazine Page, recommended by French bookstore professionals, included a review stating, "It is important to note the universality of the novel's theme. Although the statistics in the novel differ, women experience the same pain, discrimination, and difficulties, and soon empathize with this novel." The translation was jointly done by Choi Kyung-ran and Pierre Bizieux, who have translated numerous Korean literary works into French, including Kim Young-ha's "Only Two" and Kim Un-su's "The Plotters."

The Guimet Museum is also historically significant as the workplace of Hong Jong-woo, Korea's first French exchange student in the 1800s, who translated and published works such as "Chunhyangjeon" and "Gomoksaenghwa." This year's Asian Literature Prize jury is chaired by Aur?lie Filippetti, former French Minister of Culture and Communication. Five final nominees will be selected in September, and the winner will be announced in November.

Jung Yoo-jung's "The Origin of Species" (Korean edition: Eunhaengnamu (2016) / German translation: Der gute Sohn · translated by Jo Kyung-hye · Unions · 2019) and Pyun Hye-young's "Hole" (Korean edition: Munhakgwa Jiseongsa (2016) / German translation: Der Riss · translated by Lee Ki-hyang · btb · 2019) were both nominated for Germany's Liberatur Prize. The Liberatur Prize is awarded to one female author from Asia, Africa, or Latin America to introduce literature from these regions to German readers.

The nominees are selected quarterly from a recommended reading list of female authors curated by Litprom, an institution under the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. This year, a total of 12 authors, including Jung Yoo-jung's "The Origin of Species" and Pyun Hye-young's "Hole," are competing. The winner will be decided by online voting from readers worldwide, with the results announced in October.

Among Korean novels, Oh Jung-hee won the Liberatur Prize in 2003 for "Bird," and Lee Hye-kyung received the Liberatur Prize encouragement award in 2004 for "House on the Road." In 2018, Han Kang's "The Boy is Coming" and Kim Ae-ran's "My Brilliant Life" were nominated.