World Literary Awards

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Shin Kyung-sook

シン・ギョンスク

Sin Gyeongsuk

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1963-01-12 （Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, South Korea）
Nationality
South Korea
Languages
Korean
Residence History
Seoul (resided since adolescence)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Writer
Active Years
1985-
Influenced By
Kim Insuk, Gong Ji-young

Education

Seoul Institute of the Arts
Creative writing / Creative writing
Period: 在学期間不明
Country: South Korea
Graduated as a creative writing major; made literary debut in 1985

Awards

Contemporary Literature (Hyundae Munhak) Award
1995
Organization: Hyundae Munhak
Result: 受賞
Manhae Literature Award
1996
Organization: Manhae Foundation
Result: 受賞
Dong-in Literary Award
1997
Organization: Dong-in Literary Award Committee
Result: 受賞
21st Century Literature Award
2000
Result: 受賞
Yi Sang Literary Award
2001
Organization: Yi Sang Literary Award Committee
Result: 受賞
Oh Young-su Literary Award
2006
Organization: Oh Young-su Literary Award Committee
Result: 受賞
Prix de l'inaperçu
2009
Work: A Lone Room (French translation: La Chambre solitaire)
Organization: Prix de l'inaperçu Committee
Result: 受賞
Republic of Korea Culture and Arts Award
2011
Organization: Korean Ministry of Culture (and related bodies)
Result: 受賞
Man Asian Literary Prize
2012
Work: Please Look After Mom
Organization: Man Asian Literary Prize
Result: 受賞（2012年にアジア文学賞を受賞、受賞者としては初の韓国人かつ初の女性）
Mark of Respect Award
2012
Result: 受賞
Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club Foreign Public Relations Award – Literary Section
2012
Category: 文学部門
Organization: Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club
Result: 受賞
Ho-Am Prize (Literature)
2013
Category: 文学
Organization: Ho-Am Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Winter's Fable

1990 Novella

An early novella rooted in experiences of work and youth; marked Shin's literary debut.

workyouth and disillusionment

A Lone Room

1995 Novel

A delicate exploration of loneliness and family tensions; drew international attention with French translation.

lonelinessfamilymemory
Translations
  • French translation: La Chambre solitaire (award-winning)
  • English translation: The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness (translated by Ha-Yun Jung)

Please Look After Mom

2009 Novel 320 pages

A bestselling novel that follows family perspectives and memories around a missing mother, reassessing mother-family relationships.

motherhood and familymemoryurbanization and loss
Translations
  • English translation: translated by Chi-Young Kim (2011)
  • Translated and published in around 19 countries

I'll Be Right There

2010 Novel

A novel that examines personal wounds and memory against a backdrop of violence and political unrest.

memorypolitical backgroundpersonal trauma
Translations
  • English translation: translated by Sora Kim-Russell (2014)

Violet

2001 Novel

A work that quietly probes characters' inner lives and relationships; has been translated into English recently.

interiorityrelationships
Translations
  • English translation: Anton Hur (Violets, 2022)

Yi Jin (The Court Dancer)

2007 Historical fiction

A historically flavored novel depicting the fate of a woman in the Joseon court.

historywomen's fatepower relations
Translations
  • English translation: translated by Anton Hur (The Court Dancer, 2018)

I Went To See My Father

2021 Novel

A novel that weaves recollection and present around family and the relationship with a father.

familyrecollection
Translations
  • English translation: translated by Anton Hur (2023)

Bibliography

  • Winter's Fable (1990)
  • Deep Sorrow (1994)
  • A Lone Room (1995)
  • Long Ago, When I Left My Home (1996)
  • The Train Departs at 7 (1999)
  • Violet (2001)
  • J's Story (2002)
  • Yi Jin / The Court Dancer (2007)
  • Please Look After Mom (2009)
  • I'll Be Right There (2010)
  • The Unknown Women (2011)
  • Stories I Wish To Tell the Moon (2013)
  • I Went To See My Father (2021)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical and delicate psychological depictionrealistic portrayals of family lifelayered structure of memories and perspectives
Recurring Motifs
motherhoodmemory and losscontrast between urbanization and hometown

Legacy

One of contemporary Korea's leading writers; gained international success with Please Look After Mom (2009) and became the first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012. Her reputation is complex due to a 2015 plagiarism controversy.

Quotes

  • Please look after mother — that plea is the starting point of the work (from the title)
    Source: Please Look After Mom (2009)

Trivia

  • In 2012 she won the Man Asian Literary Prize — the first Korean and the first woman to do so.
  • In 2015 allegations of plagiarism (including passages resembling Yukio Mishima) led to the withdrawal of a short story collection.