K-Literature with Shin Kyung-sook (April 13, 2012)

Join us at the Korean Cultural Center Washington DC for a free book reading, Q&A, signing, and reception event with author Shin Kyung-sook to celebrate the paperback release of her bestselling book, Please Look After Mom.

Shin, a familiar best-selling author in Korea, recently became the first Korean and first woman to receive the Man Asian Literary Prize for the English translation of Please Look After Mom, which is now being distributed worldwide.

In this beautifully written and intensely compelling novel, Shin tells the story of one family's search for their mother – who goes missing one afternoon on the Seoul subway – that unfolds to reveal the secret lives of mothers.

This event is part of K-Literature, which aims to promote Korea-US understanding and artistic exchange by welcoming Korean literary figures to the Korean Cultural Center in Washington DC. The paperback edition of the book will be available for purchase at the event.

Date: Friday, April 13, 2012
Time: 6:30 pm (doors open at 6 pm)
Location: Korean Cultural Center - 2370 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington DC 20008
RSVP: REQUIRED (below) (Form available here)

Synopsis

When sixty-nine-year-old So-nyo is separated from her husband among the crowds of the Seoul subway station, her family is awash in sorrow and guilt. As the children argue over the "Missing" flyers they are posting throughout the city, they realize that none of them has a recent photograph of Mom. And when their father reveals that her official birth date is incorrect, they begin to wonder: do they really know the woman they called Mom? Told through the piercing voices and urgent perspectives of a daughter, son, husband, and in the shattering conclusion, by Mom herself, the novel is a picture of contemporary life in Korea and a universal story of family love.

About the Author

Shin Kyung-sook is the author of numerous works of fiction and is one of Korea's most widely read and acclaimed novelists. She has been honored with the Manhae Literature Prize, the Dong-in Literature Prize, and the Yi Sang Literary Prize, as well as France's Prix de l'Inaperçu. Please Look After Mom is her first book published in English, now set to be published in 29 countries with nearly 1.5 million copies sold in Korea alone.

Form available here