Kim Seung-ok Literary Award Ceremony... Grand Prize Goes to Novelist Moon Jin-young's 'Two Rooms'

Held in Suncheon, the Hometown of Writer Kim Seung-ok

[Suncheon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Heo Seok) announced on the 23rd that it held the ‘2021 Kim Seung-ok Literary Award Ceremony’ the day before at the Suncheonman Bay National Garden International Wetland Center.

About 50 people attended the event, including writer Kim Seung-ok, local writers from the Suncheon area, and representatives from the Munhakdongne Publishing House, which organized the literary award contest, to celebrate the winners.

The Kim Seung-ok Literary Award was established in 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the debut of novelist Kim Seung-ok, author of the novel Mujin Travelogue, a representative writer of the 1960s, and to inherit his literary achievements.

This year, the grand prize was awarded to novelist Moon Jin-young for ‘Two Rooms,’ and the excellence awards went to writers Yoon Dae-nyeong, Son Hong-gyu, Ahn Bo-yoon, Jin Yeon-ju, Jeong Yong-jun, and Hwang Hyun-jin.

This year, under the supervision of Munhakdongne Publishing House, seven outstanding short stories published within the year by writers who have debuted for more than 10 years were selected. The grand prize carries a cash award of 50 million KRW, and each of the six excellence award winners received 5 million KRW.

A city official said, “It is especially meaningful to hold the award ceremony in Suncheon, the hometown of writer Kim Seung-ok’s life and literature,” and added, “We hope that the Kim Seung-ok Literary Award will discover talented and capable literary figures and contribute to the development of Korean literature.”