Korean children’s book published in Czech Republic

A children’s book by a Korean author was published in the Czech Republic last week, just in time for the country’s biggest international book fair.It is the first time a Korean work of children’s literature has been published in the Czech Republic.The book, titled “Dream about Joy of Music,” is written by children’s writer Park Eun-young and illustrated by Koo Bo-ram. The book chronicles the life of the legendary classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).The Czech Embassy in Seoul s

May 21, 2012

Yul Kwon shares his troubled childhood

Reality TV star publishes his memoir in KoreaIt’s hard to imagine Korean-American reality TV star and former lawyer Yul Kwon being timid and quiet as a child.But his latest Korean-language memoir reveals something that most of the public, well-aware of Kwon’s academic and professional triumphs, would find a surprise.The 2006 “Survivor” winner and Yale Law School graduate said he had severe social anxiety disorders as a child, and was very often a target for bullying, in the book titled “I Evolve

May 20, 2012

How cars, culture fueled our dreams

“Engines of Change” By Paul Ingrassia (Simon & Schuster)It would be impossible to count the number of automotive makes and models that have come and gone since the car was first invented ― or the number of books that have been written about them. The inescapable ubiquity of the automobile has made them, for better or worse, a sort of cultural fodder that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Ingrassia inventively exploits in “Engines of Change.”The question at the center of his treatise: Do car

May 18, 2012

Life in a Shaker community

“A Simple Murder” By Eleanor Kuhns (Minotaur) During the mid-19th century, the Shakers were the largest and most successful utopian group in existence, with tight-knit communities scattered throughout the Northeast and in Kentucky. The religious sect, which began in England during the late 1700s, stressed equality of the sexes, pacifism and hard work. Sexual relations, even among married couples, were forbidden, making it a difficult religion for many to follow.Today, the Shakers are mainly reme

May 18, 2012

Singer Phil Collins’ latest gig: collector of Alamo artifacts

Sandwiched between two respected Texas historians on a hard church pew, the compact Englishman looks nervous, stroking his stubbled chin as he eyes 60 or so people crowded into the Buffalo Gap Chapel waiting for the sound of that voice they couldn’t have escaped hearing over the last 40 years.Never mind that he’s performed before crowds a thousand times bigger, sold a gazillion records, won Grammys and an Academy Award. British singer and drummer Phil Collins is fidgeting because he’s about to g

May 18, 2012

KLTI to select 15 authors for global launch

  State-run institute also plans to translate Korean works of genre fictionThe Korea Literature Translate Institute announced on Tuesday they will select 15 local writers and support them with publishing their works overseas.The 300 million-won ($257,000) project consists of translating excerpts from the selected writer’s works of fiction and sending them to literary agencies in foreign countries, especially the U.S. The institute is to announce the selected writers by the end of this year. “The

May 18, 2012

Greed fueled scam that had big fallout

A Disposition to Be Rich: How a Small-Town Pastor’s Son Ruined an American President, Brought on a Wall Street Crash, and Made Himself the Best-Hated Man in the United States By Geoffrey C. (Ward; Knopf) Sure, we’ve all got a skeleton in the family closet. But Geoffrey C. Ward’s is particularly haunting.On Wall Street in the 1870s and ’80s, Ferdinand Ward pulled off a sprawling pyramid scam that ensnared some of America’s biggest financial names by promising ― and delivering ― unheard-of investm

May 11, 2012

Lessons in History

Presidential Campaign Posters: From the Library of Congress By The Library of Congress (Quirk Books)OK, political groupies, travel back through time to the campaigns of yesteryear. You can even wallpaper your bedroom with (long dead) politicians touting their virtues ― and sometimes sliming their opponents.“Presidential Campaign Posters” ― an oversized book from the Library of Congress ― is exactly what it says ― wall posters ― but with the added dollop of history on the side.In the preface, Bro

May 11, 2012

Biography of former WHO director-general published in English

Lee Jong-wook: A Life inHealth and Politics(WHO, KOFIH)A biography of the late Lee Jong-wook, who served as the director-general of the World Health Organization from 2003 to 2006, has been published in English.The publication of the book was jointly funded by the WHO and Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH). It was written by Desmond Avery, a former editor of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, who also worked as Lee’s speech writer during his years as the director-g

May 11, 2012

Appreciation: Maurice Sendak helped children’s imaginations run wild

LOS ANGELES ― When my son Noah was little ― no more than 2 years old ― his favorite book was “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, who died on Tuesday at age 83. We used to read it and reread it, every night before bed.The routine was always the same: Noah would stand up against the slats of his crib and stare at the fabulous lushness of Sendak’s drawings, while I not so much recited as intoned the text. Often, Noah would mouth the words along with me; although he couldn’t yet read, he’

May 11, 2012

Time cover shows mom breastfeeding 3-year-old

 Shocking or no big deal? A woman breastfeeding her 3-year-old son is the cover photo of this week's Time magazine for a story on ``attachment parenting,'' and reactions ranged from applause to cringing to shrugs.The photo showed Jamie Lynne Grumet, 26, a stay-at-home mom in Los Angeles who says her mother breastfed her until she was 6 years old. She told the magazine in an interview that she's gi

May 11, 2012

American economist shares his green economic vision

Jeremy Rifkin says Korea can play leading role in ‘third industrial revolution’From renewable energy to world-class IT and shipping companies, Korea seems to “have it all” for the “Third Industrial Revolution,” said a renowned American scholar. Jeremy Rifkin, economist and best-selling author, said South Korea can play a key role in leading the development of a green economic infrastructure in Asia, and urged the Seoul government to take further actions to make it a reality. “I do want to applau

May 9, 2012

At home with Nobel laureate Toni Morrison

GRAND VIEW-ON-HUDSON, New York (AP) ― The Hudson River extends like the sun from the back of Toni Morrison’s house, illuminated and infinite, undimmed by an unseasonably drab afternoon.“It’s interesting and soothing, and it changes constantly,’’ Morrison says from the comfort of an armchair. “And at night, with the stars and the moon ...’’The Nobel laureate has lived in this converted boathouse since the late 1970s, when she spotted a “For Sale’’ sign while driving by. Her commitment was tested

May 8, 2012

A look at digital devices overuse

iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming its Hold on UsBy Larry D. Rosen(Palgrave/Macmillan)No matter where we go ― to a restaurant, a movie, a public restroom, and yes, even a funeral ― people are seen clutching and using a slim device that allows them to do just about anything they can do from an Internet-enabled computer at home. Who hasn’t attended a so-called business meeting in which every person is staring at a MacBookPro and talking on a cellphone simultaneou

May 4, 2012

Fountain offers microcosm of America

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime WalkBy Ben Fountain(Ecco)An embedded Fox News crew has filmed a bloody firefight between Bravo Squad, a 10-member unit of the American army, and Iraqi insurgents. Although suffering two casualties among its badly outnumbered unit, Bravo Squad prevails, thanks especially to the courage of Spc. Billy Lynn, a 19-year-old from a small Texas town.The TV footage has gone viral in the United States, Bravo Squad has been hailed as heroes, and Billy has been awarded the Silver

May 4, 2012

Alain Mabanckou’s wry novels, written in French, are finally being translated for U.S. audiences

In a UCLA classroom one day not long ago, Alain Mabanckou was teaching a course in post-colonial African fiction, which he instructs in his French mother tongue, one of several languages he speaks.With his easygoing yet focused manner, soccer player’s graceful body language and a way funkier fashion sense than the average college don, the 46-year-old Mabanckou kept his students’ attention, framing moral quandaries for them to consider and regaling them with technical explanations of an African a

May 4, 2012

American scholar publishes collection of her Korean poems

Theresa Hyun delves into the ordinary lives of Korean peopleImagine writing poetry in a foreign language, and translating it back into your mother tongue.That’s what American scholar Theresa Hyun has done. The French, English and Korean-speaking professor, who had lived in Seoul from the early 1980s to 1992, recently published her first bilingual collection of poems, titled “A Cup of Tea at P’anmunjom (DMZ).”“Mostly I wrote about the things that I experienced living in Korea,” Hyun told The Kore

May 4, 2012

Fans flock to meet author of ‘50 Shades of Grey’

MIAMI (AP) ― Young school teachers, middle-aged nurses and even the elderly flocked to a Miami book store Sunday for a chance to meet the author of the bestselling erotic romance “Fifty Shades of Grey’’ at the launch of her U.S. book tour.British newcomer E L James drew more than 500 men and women at a morning book signing and spoke later before a sold-out crowd at the historic Biltmore Hotel. It was her second-ever book signing, yet the size of the crowd snaking through the store with mimosas a

April 30, 2012

Hardship and gloom mingle in Appalachia

The Cove By Ron Rash(Ecco)Setting a story in Appalachia during the dark days of World War I promises a certain gloominess to the tale. And while Ron Rash delivers that in “The Cove,” he also spins a moving tale of the hardships faced by two siblings as they fight for their existence in the hills of Appalachia.Laurel is a young woman of some beauty, marred by a prominent birthmark that leaves the superstitious people of her rural community convinced she’s a witch. Her brother, Hank, is home from

April 27, 2012