Discover the best South Korean authors and the books to add to your reading list to explore their contributions to literature.
The best South Korean authors have made their mark in the literary field, and exploring South Korean literature is key to expanding your knowledge of writing from around the world. Whether you’re on the hunt for mainstream fiction, science fiction, or works that explore prominent social issues in South Korea and around the world, South Korean authors offer unique, poignant points of view that are often critically acclaimed.
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Here Are The 10 Best South Korean Authors
1. Sang Young Park, 1988 -
Cho Nam-Joo has transitioned from screenwriter to novelist, and her book Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (2016) struck a chord with readers in South Korea and around the world. The novel has sold over a million copies worldwide and coincided with the #MeToo movement.
Kim Jiyoungdraws heavily on Nam-Joo’s experience with becoming a stay-at-home mother after her child’s birth. The book largely resonated with South Korean women forced to choose between a family and a career. Today, Nam-Joo’s novel has been translated into 18 languages and is beloved by book clubs and critics alike.
*“I don’t know if I’m going to get married, or if I’m going to have children. Or maybe I’ll die before I get to do any of that. Why do I have to deny myself something I want right now to prepare for a future that may or may not come?” *
Bae Myung-Hoon, Tower
3. Bae Myung-Hoon, 1978 -
Kim Bo-Young is a science fiction writer who has also put her creative talents to use as a graphic designer, game developer, and screenwriter. Her first work, The Experience of Touch, was published in 2004 and won the Korean Science & Technology Creative Writing Award.
She is known for incorporating significant events in Korea into her writing, such as the Sewol ferry disaster and the Gamergate scandal, in which a well-known voice actress lost her job after wearing a shirt with feminist messaging. The author’s take on social events makes her work relatable to those around the world, as many of the social issues in South Korea apply to injustices seen in other countries. Many of Bo-Young’s works have been translated into English, including I’m Waiting for You and Other Storiesand*On the Origin of Species and Other Stories**.
“Sacredness was not born out of truth, but from the skillful pen of a storyteller who fattened and spiced up historical records. Passed on from generation to generation, these essentially coauthored folktales contained just the right combination of morals and irony, twists and feeling.”
Kim Bo-Young, I’m Waiting for You and Other Stories
5. Shin Kyung-sook, 1963 -
Krys Lee is best known for her novel How I Became a North Korean: A Noveland her short story collection Drifting*House**. The writer is also known for her work as a translator and journalist.
While Lee was born in South Korea, she was raised on the West Coast of the United States and earned her bachelor’s degree from UCLA. She then moved to the UK, where she continued her education by earning her master’s degree from the University of York and her Master’s of Fine Arts degree from Warren Wilson College. Today, Lee lives in Seoul, South Korea.
“There were the Guatemalans and Mexicans I read about in the paper who died of dehydration while trying to cross into America. Or later, the Syrians fleeing war and flooding into Turkey. Arizona had the nerve to ban books by Latino writers when only a few hundred years ago Arizona was actually Mexico. Or the sheer existence of passports, twentieth-century creations that decide who gets to stay and leave.”
Krys Lee, How I Became a North Korean
7. Kim Un-su
Sok-yong was born in Manchukuo, and his family returned to Korea after Manchukuo’s liberation. He enjoyed writing from a young age and won a fourth-grade national writing contest. In the mid-60s, the author was imprisoned for political reasons. After his release, he served in the Republic of Korea Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
His first novel, Mr. Han’s Chronicle, tells the tale of a family that experienced separation due to the Korean War. The book was later translated into French.Chang Kil-san*, a parable about dictatorship, is one of the author’s most well-known works, selling a million copies.
“Even if you are alive somewhere, the absence of the other person who used to be there beside you obliterates your presence. Everything in the room, even the stars in the sky, can disappear in a second, changing one scene for another, just like in a dream.”
Hwang Sok-yong, The Old Garden
9. Han Kang, 1970 -
Kim started with her short story No Knocking in This House, which followed the journey of women living in separate rooms in a boarding house. She followed with*Run, Daddy, Run**, for which she was awarded the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award. The author is known for writing short stories about young people and their unique challenges moving from rural areas to large cities.
“Sometimes in life, the answer we search for so avidly reveals itself elsewhere, and the question we ask is born from a context that has nothing to do with the answer.”
Ae-ran Kim, My Brilliant Life
