Korean National Diplomatic Academy Chancellor Kim Joon-hyung chronicles the 150-year-old South Korea-US alliance in his new book, “The Paradox of the Eternal Alliance,” published by Changbi Publishers on Monday. The KNDA is the state-run institution that trains diplomats and researches international security affairs. Chancellor is a vice minister-level post. Kim, an expert in international politics and South Korea-US relations who has served as an adviser to Cheong Wa Dae’s O

While some head to mega bookstore chains like Kyobo Book Center and Aladdin Store to find books, others head to smaller neighborhood nooks or unique retailers in hopes of coming across interesting titles. Unique bookstores like Seoul Book Bogo, Arc N Book and Starfield Library have attracted both tourists and Koreans alike looking to both check out books and take lasting photos of the stores’ stunning interior. However, smaller independent bookstores are vastly different from those which

Are paper magazines dying out, or are they seeing a renaissance? The magazine market has shrunk steadily since 2012. According to the Korea Press Foundation’s “2020 Magazine Industry Market Research” report published in January, the magazine market was worth 777.5 billion won ($681 million) last year, a 24.9 percent decrease from 2017. Magazines’ average annual revenue stood at 438 million won, compared with 1.26 billion won in 2012. With the decline of the magazine mar

Jungwook Hong, a former National Assembly representative and former chairman of Herald Corp., has released a book of 50 essays about his journey to find his life’s purpose. Hong is a bestselling author whose 1993 autobiography, “Seven Acts, Seven Scenes,” sold over 1 million copies. That first book, which centered on his personal experience of studying in the US at Choate Rosemary Hall and Harvard University, led many wealthy South Korean parents to consider sending their tee

Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Yong-gi, a member of the National Assembly‘s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee announced Sunday that the Culture Ministry would conduct an investigation of all literary awards in Korea. The literary community was shocked earlier this month to find out Sohn Chang-hyun had won multiple literary awards with work that plagiarized author Kim Min-jung’s “Ppuri,” or root, the winner of the 2018 Baekma Culture Award. The Baekma Culture Award i

Books that have been shown on TV entertainment shows are sweeping bestselling charts, reaching bestsellers lists in travel, poetry and cooking categories in the second week of January, according to the country‘s largest bookstore chain Kyobo Book Center. “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson, for example, became the bestselling travel book after screenwriter Kim Eun-hee introduced the book on KBS2’s “The Book U Love.” After the episode with a 2.3 percent vie

Lee Seung-u’s “Heart’s Buoyancy” won the 44th Yi Sang Literary Award, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Korea given by publishing company Munhaksasang, on Monday. “A novelist getting a prize for his work is like unfamiliar guests suddenly coming into the clerk’s office full of rules and repetition,” said Lee in receiving the award. “Why did the guests come find me? Instead of asking the guests the reason, I will once again continue t

The Literature Translation Institute of Korea announced the winners of the 2020 Korean Literature Translation Award, with Mariko Saito winning the grand prize. For this year’s prize, 115 translated works in 24 languages were considered. Mariko Saito, who translated the short story collection “To Hyun Nam Oppa” by Cho Nam-joo and six others into Japanese, won the top prize and 20 million won ($18,500) in prize money, last Thursday. Translators Jeong Eun-jin and Jacques Batil

Two fairytales by poet Jeong Ho-seung, “Loving” and “Lonesome Jar: Poetic Fables,” have been published in English by Seoul Selection. Born in 1950 in Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province, Jeong is known for his poetry collections “Seoul’s Jesus” (1982), “Dawn Letter” (1987) and “Stars Are Warm” (1990), among others. His poems have been turned into songs by popular singers including Yang Hee-eun and the late Kim Kwang-seok. The sto

Former President Barack Obama’s "A Promised Land" sold more than 1.7 million copies in North America in its first week, roughly equal to the combined first week sales of memoirs by his two immediate predecessors and among the highest ever for a nonfiction book. Crown announced Tuesday that it had increased its initial print run from 3.4 million copies to 4.3 million. Sales also include audio and digital books. "A Promised Land," the first of two planned volumes, was

Picture book “The Paper Boat: A Refugee Story,” released in September, recounts the story of author Thao Lam, who escaped Vietnam after the Vietnam War in a small fishing boat with her parents, becoming a refugee at age 2. Known for previous works including “Skunk on a String” and “My Cat Looks Like My Dad,” Lam walks through the pain of her refugee experience as well as the help she received in a foreign country that gave her a normal life once again. The

Ha Seong-nan’s collection of five short stories translated into English, “Bluebeard’s First Wife,” was selected as one of the Publishers Weekly Top Ten Books of 2020. This is the second time that a South Korean literary work has made the list. The first was in 2016, when Publishers Weekly recognized the English translation of “The Vegetarian” by Han Kang. “Ha’s nitro-fueled collection captures the dark side of South Korean society in mischievou

In television writer Joe Menosky’s first novel, “King Sejong the Great,” published last month in Korean and English editions, the renowned Joseon king is portrayed in historical fiction for the first time by a non-Korean. Although you would be hard-pressed to find a Korean who doesn’t know King Sejong, the most famous Korean figure in history had evaded the interest and the attention of Westerners. However, the story of the benevolent king who created the Korean writing

Samsung Human Resource Development Institute’s former Chief Learning Officer Shin Tae-gyun sheds light on the qualities that companies should keep an eye out for heading into the “fourth industrial revolution” when artificial intelligence replaces many jobs in his book “Talent’s Counterattack.” After joining Samsung in 1983, Shin worked his way up as a human resources education expert, delivering more than 1,000 lectures to Samsung employees. He is currently

Changbi Publishers announced the publication of two books commemorating the 10th anniversary of the death of Rhee Yeung-hui in a press conference on Tuesday. “Serving the Truth,” a critical biography of Rhee by Kwon Tae-sun, and a selection of Rhee’s literary work, “For Those That Think and Resist” by Baek Young-seo and Choi Young-muk, examine the life of the journalist and scholar and his legacy. Rhee was a journalist and an outspoken social critic who was not a