30 Domestic and International Publishers and Agencies... Advancing the Globalization of Korean Literature

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] The Literature Translation Institute of Korea, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, will hold the ‘2022 Online Publishers Exchange’ in a one-on-one interview format until the 30th.

The event will feature 14 companies from 8 overseas countries and 16 domestic companies. Among them are Grove Atlantic in the U.S. and Tilted Axis in the U.K., which published the English version of Park Sang-young’s "Love in the Big City," a nominee for this year’s Booker International Prize; Penguin Press in the U.K., which published the English versions of classic Korean literature works "Guunmong" and "Hong Gil-dong Jeon"; and Serpent’s Tail in the U.K., which published Yoon Go-eun’s "Travelers of the Night," winner of the 2021 CWA Dagger Award hosted by the British Crime Writers’ Association. These publishers will meet with domestic publishers and agencies to discover new Korean literary works.

Domestically, 12 publishing companies including Munhakdongne, Munhakgwa Jiseongsa, Minumsa, Sanjini, Salmchang, Ajak, Safe House, Eunhaengnamu, Wisdom House, Changbi, Hangilsa, and Hubble, as well as 4 agencies including Greenbook Agency, Han Agency, BC Agency, and Eric Yang Agency, will participate to promote Korean literature authors and their published works.

In particular, this year, fueled by interest in Jeong Bora’s "The Curse Rabbit," which made the Booker Prize shortlist, discussions on works of various genres are expected to be lively. Publishers with clear specialties such as Safe House, a story production and publishing company that has published various genre literature, and Salmchang, a labor literature publisher, will participate to meet the expectations of overseas publishers seeking hidden Korean stories.

Since 2018, the Translation Institute has supported copyright meetings between domestic and foreign publishers to promote the overseas publication of Korean literature. In 2018 and 2019, under the name ‘Korean Literature Showcase,’ overseas literary publishers were invited to Korea and meetings with domestic figures were arranged. Since 2020, the ‘Online Publishers Exchange’ has been conducted in an online one-on-one interview format. This year, a total of 30 companies (14 overseas and 16 domestic) were selected based on external evaluations.

Gwak Hyo-hwan, president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, stated, “We hope that through this event, active discussions between domestic and international literary specialized publishers will take place, expanding opportunities for the overseas publication of Korean literature.”