Booker Prize Translator 'Suhgi Bain' Honored with Guyoung Translation Award

Salvation Translator.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo Mideum] The Yooyoung Academic Foundation announced on the 18th that translator Gu Won has been selected as the winner of the 16th Yooyoung Translation Award. He translated Douglas Stuart's novel Shuggie Bain. The prize money is 10 million won.

The novel is Douglas Stuart's debut work, realistically depicting the relationship between the protagonist Bain and his alcoholic mother. It gained worldwide attention after winning the Booker Prize, one of the world's top three literary awards, in 2020.

The Yooyoung Translation Award judging committee stated, "The original work, which is over 400 pages long and uses a lot of Scottish dialect, youth slang, and profanity, was intricately and excellently translated into highly readable Korean."

Translator Gu Won graduated from UCLA with a degree in economics and has translated works such as New Grub Street, Prelude, Lost Lady, One Day a Madman Appeared in the Mirror, and Women Without Partners. He currently works as a freelance translator and publishing planner, traveling between the United States and Korea.

This year's judging was conducted by the Yonsei University English Literature Research Institute, targeting a total of 828 English literary translations published between January and December of last year. Fourteen works with outstanding accuracy, readability, and completeness were shortlisted, and three excellent works were recommended for the final judging.

The final judging panel included Chair Kim Wookdong, Professor Emeritus at Sogang University, along with Professors Min Eunkyung (Seoul National University), Yoon Minwoo (Yonsei University), Lee Seokgu (Yonsei University), and Lee Hyeongjin (Sookmyung Women's University).

The award ceremony will be held on the evening of the 2nd of next month at 6 p.m. in the main banquet hall of the Yonsei University Alumni Hall.

Now in its 16th year, the Yooyoung Translation Award is a literary translation prize established to honor the achievements of the late Professor Yooyoung, Professor Emeritus of English Literature at Yonsei University, who dedicated his life to English literary research and translation. The award was established in 2007 by Professor Yooyoung’s family in his name.