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Shin Kyung-sook’s ‘The Secluded Room’ to be released in U.S.

Shin Kyung-sook’s ‘The Secluded Room’ to be released in U.S.

Posted November. 27, 2014 07:59,   

한국어

“The Secluded Room,” an autobiographical flagship novel by novelist Shin Kyung-sook, will be released in the U.S. in October next year. Attention is focusing on whether the writer, who drew attention with a seminar on Korean literature at the University of California at Berkeley last month, will create a stir in the North American publishing market by her third English edition novel.

KL Management, Shin Kyung-sook’s copyright agency for overseas publishing, recently signed a copyright agreement on ‘The Secluded Room,’ with Pegasus Books, a U.S. publishing company. First released in Korea in 1995, the novel is the growth story of a teenage girl who cultivates her dream to become a novelist, while working at the Guro industrial complex after moving to Seoul in the 1970s. The novel is based on Shin’s own personal experience. In a telephone interview with The Dong-A Ilbo, Shin said, “I feel like books have their own fate. Probably, it is about time that an English edition of ‘the Secluded Room’ was published,” in expressing expectation for a success.

Among her collection, “Please Look After Mom,” which describes the relationship between her and her own mother after the mother went missing unexpectedly, was published in English for the first time three years ago, and earned positive response. At that time, the book ranked 14th among hardcover novels on the New York Times Best Seller list. The book has been introduced in 35 countries, including Britain, Japan and France. Last June, an English edition of “I’ll Be Right There” was published in the U.S.

On October 24, an international symposium dubbed ‘Shin Kyung-sook and Korean literature’ took place at the University of California at Berkley. It was the first time that an international symposium exclusively spotlighting a Korean novelist was held at the university. At that time, Shin said, “After writing ‘The Secluded Room,’ I decided to myself that I would live as a writer under any circumstance. It would have been nice if this novel was introduced overseas before other books,” revealing her strong affection for the book.