Korean Literature in Translation

Books written in Korean and translated into English. Find a new-to-you read and expand your understanding of another culture.
Updated September 19, 2022
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The vegetarian : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE   "[Han Kang's] intense poetic prose . . . exposes the fragility of human life."--The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel Prize   A NEW YORK TIMES...
The cabinet
Kim, Ŏn-su
Paper Book
Winner of the Munhakdongne Novel Award, South Korea's most prestigious literary prize. Cabinet 13 looks exactly like any normal filing cabinet...Except this cabinet is filled with files on the 'symptomers', humans whose strange abilities and bizarre experiences might just mark...
The court dancer
Sin, Kyŏng-suk
Paper Book
Set during the dramatic final years of the Korean Empire, the new novel from Man Asian Literary Prize winner Kyung-Sook Shin features a mysterious dancer caught up in the dizzying sweep of history.  Based on a remarkable true story, New York Times bestselling author Shin...
The disaster tourist : a novel
Yun, Ko-ŭn
Paper Book
This stunning "dystopian feminist eco-thriller" from an award-winning South Korean author "takes on climate change, sexual assault, greed, and dark tourism" (Ms. Magazine). Welcome to the desert island of Mui, where a paid vacation to paradise is nothing short of a...
Grass
Gendry-Kim, Keum Suk
Paper Book
Appeared on best of the year lists from The New York Times, The Guardian, and more! Winner of The Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Print Comic of the Year! Grass is a powerful antiwar graphic novel, telling the life story of a Korean girl named Okseon Lee...
Human acts : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
From the internationally bestselling author of The Vegetarian, a "rare and astonishing" (The Observer) portrait of political unrest and the universal struggle for justice. In the midst of a violent student uprising in South Korea, a young boy named Dong-ho is...
I'll be right there : a novel
Sin, Kyŏng-suk.
Paper Book
"A love story between friends. It is so well written. Kyung-sook Shin has this use of language that is just beautiful and poetic. It's a great book if you're looking to escape."-Chelsea Handler, #1New York Timesbestselling author How friendship, European literature, and a...
I'm waiting for you : and other stories
Kim, Bo Young
Paper Book
"Her fiction is a breath-taking piece of a cinematic art itself. Reminiscent of the world we experienced in Matrix, Inception, and Dark City, still it leads us to this entirely original structure, which is a ground-breaking, mystic literary and cinematic experience. Indeed, powerful and graceful....
Kim Jiyoung, born 1982 = Palsip yi nyeon saeng Kim Jiyeong
Cho, Nam-ju
Paper Book
A GUARDIAN 'ONE TO LOOK OUT FOR 2020'  A RED MAGAZINE 'CAN'T WAIT TO READ' BOOK OF 2020   THE MULTI-MILLION-COPY SELLING SOUTH KOREAN SENSATION THAT HAS GOT THE WHOLE WORLD TALKING Kim Jiyoung is a...
Lemon
Kwŏn, Yŏ-sŏn
Paper Book
New York Times Book Review: Editor's Choice  Philadelphia Inquirer: Best Book of the Month   World Literature Today: Notable Translation of the Year   CrimeReads: Best International Crime Novel of the Year Ms. Magazine:...
Love in the big city : a novel
Pak, Sang-yŏng
Paper Book
A funny, transporting, surprising, and poignant novel that was one of the highest-selling debuts of recent years in Korea, Love in the Big City tells the story of a young gay man searching for happiness in the lonely city of Seoul Love in the Big City is the English...
Please look after mom : a novel
Sin, Kyŏng-suk.
Paper Book
A million-plus-copy best seller in Korea—a magnificent English-language debut poised to become an international sensation—this is the stunning, deeply moving story of a family’s search for their mother, who goes missing one afternoon amid the crowds of the Seoul Station subway.
The waiting
Gendry-Kim, Keum Suk
Paper Book
The story begins with a mother's confession...sisters permanently separated by a border during the Korean War Keum Suk Gendry-Kim was an adult when her mother revealed a family secret: She had been separated from her sister during the Korean War. It's not an uncommon story--the...
The investigation : a novel
Yi, Chŏng-myŏng
Paper Book
Watanabe Yuichi, a young guard with a passion for reading, is ordered to investigate. The victim, Sugiyama, also a guard, was feared and despised throughout the prison and inquiries have barely begun when a powerful inmate confesses. But Watanbe is unconvinced; and as he interrogates both the...
The good son
Jeong, You-Jeong
Paper Book
The plotters
Kim, Ŏn-su
Paper Book
The important thing is not who pulls the trigger but who's behind the person who pulls the trigger - the plotters, the masterminds working in the shadows. Raised by Old Raccoon in The Library of Dogs, Reseng has always been surrounded by plots to kill - and by books that no one ever reads. In Seoul...
Almond : a novel
Son, Wŏn-p'yŏng
Paper Book
A BTS fan favorite! A WALL STREET JOURNAL STORIES THAT CAN TAKE YOU ANYWHERE PICK * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S STAY HOME AND READ PICK * SALON'S BEST AND BOLDEST * BUSTLE'S MOST ANTICIPATED  The Emissary meets The Curious Incident of the Dog in the...
The old woman with the knife
Gu, Byeong-mo
Paper Book
Hornclaw is a sixty-five-year-old female contract killer who is considering retirement. A fighter who has experienced loss and grief early on in life, she lives in a state of self-imposed isolation, with just her dog, Deadweight, for company. While on an assassination job for the 'disease control'...
One hundred shadows
Hwang, Chŏng-ŭn
Paper Book
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER! "There is an unforgettable, curious beauty to be found here." --Han Kang, Winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian Han Kang's Human Acts meets Yōko Ogawa's The Memory Police in this understated...
Violets
Sin, Kyŏng-suk
Paper Book
My brilliant life
Kim, Ae-ran
Paper Book
A BEST OF THE MONTH SELECTION BY OPRAH MAGAZINE AN NPR BEST BOOK OF 2021 "An eminent South Korean talent makes her American début in this poignant watercolor of a novel . . . Kim is a writer on the move." --O, The Oprah Magazine Ae-ran Kim's My...
Untold night and day
Bae, Suah
Paper Book
A seductive, disorienting novel that manipulates the fragile line between dreams and reality, by South Korea's leading contemporary writer   A startling and boundary-pushing novel, Untold Night and Day tells the story of a young woman's journey through...
The white book
Han, Kang
Paper Book
From the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian comes a stunning meditation on the colour white; about light, about death and about ritualFrom the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The VegetarianBoth the most autobiographical and...
Endless blue sky : a novel
Yi, Hyo-sŏk
Paper Book
Set in 1940s colonial Korea and Japanese-occupied Manchuria, Endless Blue Sky tells the love story between Korean writer Ilma and Russian dancer Nadia. The novel is both a thrilling melodrama set in glamorous locations that would shortly be tragically ravaged by war, and a bold piece of writing...
City of ash and red : a novel
Pyun, Hye-yŏng
Paper Book
NAMED AN NPR GREAT READ OF 2018 From the Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of The Hole, a Kafkaesque tale of crime and punishment hailed by Korea's Wall Street Journal as "an airtight masterpiece." Distinguished for his talents as a rat...

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