Chun Myeong-kwan (59), the author of the novel “Whale,” which depicts human “desire,” as violent and destructive as a storm, has failed to win the British Booker Prize.
On the 23rd (local time), the Steering Committee of the Man Booker Prize announced the Bulgarian writer and poet Georgi Gospodinov’s novel ‘Time Shelter’ as the winner of this year’s Booker Prize International category at a dinner and awards ceremony held at Sky Garden in London, England. Author Gospodinov and English translator Angela Rodel will each be awarded £25,000 (approximately KRW 41 million).
Time Shelter (Source: Amazon.com)‘Time Shelter’ is a story set in a ‘clinic for the past’ that offers promising treatments for Alzheimer’s patients.
Gospodinov’s works are the most translated Bulgarian writers to emerge after the fall of communism. His novels, poems, essays, screenplays and graphic novels are recognized as a leading voice in European literature.
Chun Myeong-kwan’s ‘Whale’, which raised expectations for the second Korean Booker Prize winner in the international category following Han Kang’s ‘The Vegetarian’ in 2016, was unfortunately drank. In 2018, Han Kang was again included in the final nomination for ‘White’, and in 2019, Hwang Seok-young was included in the first nomination for ‘Sunset’, but failed to win the award.
Writer Cheon Myeong-gwan was born in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do in 1964. Before making his debut, he wrote scenarios for films such as ‘I wish for something forbidden to me’, ‘The Gunman’, and ‘Beijing Banjeom’. In 2003, ‘Frank and I’ was selected for the novel category of the Munhakdongne Rookie Award, and in 2004, ‘Whale’ was selected for the 10th Munhakdongne Novel Award and published. This work was translated into English by translator Kim Ji-young and published in ‘Europa Editions’ in January this year.
The Booker Prize was established in 1969 by the British Booker Company and was renamed the Man Booker Prize in 2002 when the Man Group became a sponsor. However, as sponsorship ended in December 2019, it is now called the Booker Prize again.
The Booker Prize is one of the world’s three major literary awards, along with the Nobel Prize in Literature and the French Goncourt Prize. The International Booker Prize is an award given to the most outstanding English translations by non-English speaking writers. If selected, the writer and translator will share a prize of £50,000.
Source: Donga
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