Korean novel-Booker Prize

▲ This image from the homepage of the Booker Prize shows the cover of Cheon Myeong-kwan's novel "Whale," which is shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Korean novel-Booker Prize

Cheon Myeong-kwan's 'Whale' shortlisted for 2023 International Booker Prize

By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, April 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korean novelist Cheon Myeong-kwan's "Whale" has been shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize, the British literary awards said Tuesday.

First published in South Korea in 2004, Cheon's English-language debut, "Whale," was among the six nominees announced by the Booker Prize Foundation on its website.

"Whale" is a multi-generational saga composed of three parts that follow the lives of linked characters in a remote village in South Korea.

"An adventure-satire of epic proportions, which sheds new light on the changes Korea experienced in its rapid transition from pre-modern to post-modern society," judges wrote earlier. "A fiction that brims with surprises and wicked humour, from one of the most original voices in South Korea."

The final winner will receive the award at a ceremony in London on May 23. The top prize of 50,000 pounds (US$65,000) will be shared equally by the author and the translator.

The Booker Prize is considered one of the three largest literary awards in the world. The International Booker Prize was established in 2005 to honor distinguished international works of fiction translated into English.


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