20 questions for author Kim Edwards

“Labyrinth walker” and award-winning author of “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter,” Kim Edwards talks about allowing oneself to head out into uncertain territory ― be it in the middle of a lake or the middle of a story ― and see where the journey takes you.Her latest novel, “The Lake of Dreams,” was published in January.1. The latest book or movie that made you cry?“Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides left

March 4, 2011

Hemingway marriage comes alive

Was there a St. Louis woman who could resist Ernest Hemingway?He married and divorced three of them, prompting Gertrude Stein to quip: “Anyone who’s married three girls from St. Louis hasn’t learned much.”One might argue it was the “girls” who didn’t learn.Yet we’ll forgive Hemingway’s first wife, who fell in love when he was only 21.Handsome and magnetic, Hemingway had little (although some) bagg

March 4, 2011

Rare book collection on display at Stanford

PALO ALTO, California ― Over hundreds of years, and thousands of miles, a collection of rare historic books now on display at America’s Stanford University bristles with an excitement as fresh as yesterday.The collection, “The American Enlightenment: Treasures from the Stanford University Libraries,” offers a glimpse of trans-Atlantic intellectual debates triggered by the discovery of the New Worl

March 3, 2011

Children’s book fair winner blurs line between fiction and non-fiction

What does it take to inform kids about a wide range of non-fiction topics?Understanding kids’ sensibility to language and their use of language, children’s book writer Kim Hee-kyung answers.Children’s writer Kim Hee-kyung has been selected as the winner of the BolognaRagazzi Award at this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair.Kim, who also works as a program coordinator for the visually impaired at

Feb. 25, 2011

New books

Seven authors and rainRain in Seven ColorsBy Kim Mi-wol et al.(Yolimwon Publishing Group, 12,000 won)Seven female writers, all in their 30s, together have published an anthology of short stories under one theme: rain.The book, “Rain in Seven Colors,” contains seven short stories written by the seven writers: Jang Eun-jin, Kim Soom, Kim Mi-wol, Yoon Yi-hyeong, Kim Yi-seol, Hwang Jeong-eun, and Han

Feb. 25, 2011

[Korea steady seller] Living in the post war period

Living in the post war periodA Toy CityBy Lee Dong-ha(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)Written from the perspective of a young boy in elementary school, “A Toy City” shows what it was like to live in the post war period of the 1950s.An obvious version of author Lee Dong-ha’s younger self, the protagonist, a young boy from Daegu, is overwhelmed when his family moves to Seoul only a few years after the Korean

Feb. 25, 2011

A sunny move for New Yorker Jonathan Lethem

On a typical winter day, the Bard of Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill steps out onto the sidewalk to go to work. He wears only a light jacket; walks by eucalyptus trees, not delis; past charming suburban yards, not gritty subway stops. It’s Jonathan Lethem, one of New York’s most high-profile novelists, and he’s far from Brooklyn’s snow-filled sidewalks: he’s transplanted himself to Southern California.“I d

Feb. 25, 2011

Poetry books listed as cultural heritage

Four volumes of “Azaleas,” a collection of poems by Kim Sowol (1902-1934), one of the most famous poets in early modern Korea, have been added to the nation’s cultural heritage list, the Cultural Heritage Administration said Thursday.The four volumes were first published in 1925, containing a total of 127 poems written by Kim. Beautifully poignant in style, a lot of Kim’s works are known to be rem

Feb. 24, 2011

Jefferson’s books found in U.S. university library

ST. LOUIS (AP) ― Dozens of Thomas Jefferson’s books, some including handwritten notes from America’s third president, have been found in the rare books collection at Washington University in St. Louis.Now, historians are poring through the 69 newly discovered books and five others the school already knew about, and librarians are searching the collection for more volumes that may have belonged to

Feb. 23, 2011

Research institute to launch Dokdo sovereignty events

Northeast Asian History Foundation is to launch various programs to promote Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo, rocky islets in the East Sea that Japanese have claimed as part of their territory. The government affiliated research institution said its Dokdo programs would include educational workshops, promotional exhibitions, and symposiums that will discuss Japanese history textbooks that do not tak

Feb. 22, 2011

Portrait paintings of Joseon reflect Confucian standards

What makes portraits different from other paintings?The substance of its subject, scholar Cho Sun-mie answers.An English edition of Cho’s book on Korean portrait paintings and their stylistic development ― mainly of the ones from the Joseon Dynasty (1392―1897) ― has been published. The book, “Great Korean Portraits: Immortal Images of the Noble and the Brave,” introduces portraits of 50 prominent

Feb. 18, 2011

Korea Best seller

A modern Korean novelThe WingsBy Yi Sang(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)Author Yi Sang (1910-1937) is regarded as one of the most innovative writers in modern Korean literature. Having trained as an architect, Yi blurred the boundaries between poetry, fiction and essay, while breaking the rules of language and its forms.One of Yi’s short stories, “The Wings” exhibits Yi’s inventive literary techniques as w

Feb. 18, 2011

New Books

Sentimental but trueThe Old RomanticBy Louise Dean(Riverhead Books, $25.95)It’s easy to imagine readers being scared off by the all-saturating Englishness of Louise Dean’s novel “The Old Romantic,” published last year in the U.K. and this month in America.Start with unfamiliar references to Selfridges, Wade Whimsies, Maltesers and the Krankies (which are, respectively, a department store, porcelai

Feb. 18, 2011

Oates grapples with husband’s death after 47-year-marriage

When, at 6:15 a.m. on Feb. 11, 2008, Joyce Carol Oates saw her 77-year-old husband, Raymond Smith, eating breakfast, she did not ― could not ― know that he would be dead within a week. Still, she acknowledges in “A Widow’s Story,” her memoir of his death and its aftermath, she had the feeling that all was not right. “There is an hour, a minute ― you will remember it forever ― when you know instinc

Feb. 18, 2011

New thriller lifts veil on villainous state

No author in his right mind would kill off a main character in the prime of a promising new series. Intellectually you know this. How, then, does David Ellis, author of the compelling new legal thriller “Breach of Trust” (Putnam), pull it off?How does he write a scene in which Jason Kolarich ― the two-fisted, headstrong hero of a crime novel set in a city that’s a dead ringer for Chicago ― looks t

Feb. 18, 2011

Author Kim quits online world after heated debate

Popular tech-savvy novelist Kim Young-ha quit Twitter and blogging after a series of controversial online debates with literary critic Cho Young-il.The debate centered around the systemic problems in Korea’s literary scene and the tragic death of aspiring screenwriter Choi Go-eun, Kim’s former student at Korea National University of Arts (KNUA). Kim on Monday closed his Twitter account, which had

Feb. 16, 2011

[Korea best seller] Under the subconsciousness

Under the subconsciousnessThe Other Side of Dark RemembranceBy Lee Kyun-young(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)Unlike many other novels written on the Korean War (1950-1953), author Lee Kyun-young’s “The Other Side of Dark Remembrance” does not hold ideological conflicts of the two Koreas at its front.Instead, it follows the mundane life of an office worker with a low salary living in Seoul. The man had lost

Feb. 11, 2011

New Books

Memoir of U.S.–Korea FTAKim Hyun-jong talks of U.S.―Korea FTABy Kim Hyun-jong(Hongsungsa, 19,000 won) Kim Hyun-jong is the former minister for trade in the late President Roh Moo-hyun administration. Being one of the central figures in the administration’s trade policy from 2003 to 2007, Kim initiated numerous free trade agreement (FTA) plans with Mexico, India, Canada, Singapore, MERCOSUR, EFTA,

Feb. 11, 2011

Questions for author Sabar

Winning the National Book Critics Circle Award for one’s first published book promises a loyal readership and an eventual body of work that one can look back on with well-earned pride. That’s exactly what Ariel Sabar achieved with his first book, “My Father’s Paradise” (also deemed a “Best Nonfiction Book of 2008” by the Christian Science Monitor).Sabar wields his storytelling talent again in the

Feb. 11, 2011

‘Eat Pray Love’ writer back to marriage

At the end of “Eat Pray Love,” Elizabeth Gilbert found herself, against all odds, in love again. This time, though, she was determined not to marry. It was the difficult collapse of her first marriage, after all, that sent her on the yearlong odyssey that resulted in that book (and, later, the blockbuster movie).But visa problems forced her hand. After 9/11, her Brazilian lover, “Felipe” (his real

Feb. 11, 2011