Kang Young-sook

Kang Young-sook (Hangul: 강영숙; born November 10, 1967) is a South Korean writer.^[1]

Life

Kang Young-sook was born in 1966 in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province in South Korea and spent most of her childhood there. She graduated from high school and worked as a typist at a trading company before entering the Seoul Institute of the Arts as a creative writing major. She was the editor in chief of the Seoul Institute of the Arts journal and in 1998 made her literary debut with the short story "A Meal in August" through the annual spring literary competition sponsored by the Seoul Shinmun.^[1] Her published debut was the short story collection ['Shaken'] in (2002) and she has also published "Every Day is a Celebration" (2004) and "Black in Red" (2009). Her full-length novel Rina (2006) was serialized in the quarterly Literary Joongang. Kang participated in the Seoul Young Writers’ Festival and the East Asia Literature Forum in 2008. Since 1990, Kang has served as an advisory member of the Korea Dialogue Academy^[2] which is involved in various social campaigns including the Christian social movement, environmental activism, and encouraging discussions between different religions. Kang Swas a visiting researcher at Hosei University in Japan in 2007 and her main interest lies in environmental issues.^[1] In 2009. Kang did a guest residency at the University of Iowa Residency Program.^[2]

Work

The Literature Translation Institute of Korea summarizes Kang's work as follows:

Her first story collection Shaken (Munhakdongne Publishing, 2002) attracted attention for capturing the female consciousness with grotesque imagination. Her second collection Every Day Is a Celebration (Changbi Publishers, 2004) dealt with the existential issues of life in a capitalist society from a broader social perspective.^[1]

Works in Korean (partial)

Short Story Collections^[3]

• "Shaken" - Paju: Munhakdongne Publishing, 2002.
• "Every Day is a Celebration" - Paju: Changbi Publishing, 2004.
• "Black in Red" - Paju: Munhakdongne Publishing, 2009.

Novel

• Rina - Seoul: Random House Korea, 2006.

Awards

• 2011 Kim Yu-Jeong Award^[4]
• 2011 Baek Shin-Hye Children's Literature Award
• 2006 Hanguk Ilbo Literary Award

References