In the most recent meeting of the Seoul Literary Society, Swedish Ambassador Lars Danielsson hosted children’s literature author Hwang Sun-mi, who wrote the best-selling “The Hen Who Thought She Could Fly,” on Wednesday at his residence in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul.

“Which is the most important form of literature? Novels are of course very important, biographies, short stories, yes, but in my mind there is one form of literature which is more important than anything else. That is, of course, literature that is particularly written for children and young adults,” the Swedish ambassador said during the 36th gathering of the Seoul Literary Society, a group of Korean literature enthusiasts organized by the Swedish Embassy in Korea. 

Hwang, 51, is a prolific and celebrated writer with over 30 books to her name. “The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly” (2000) ― with its English translation by Penguin Books published in 2013 ― recounts the intrepid life of a hen whose wish of having children of her own compels her to escape from a chicken farm that is the only world she knows, launching her on a journey of self-discovery.

“In 1998, I was able to write only one book because my father was very ill. The family was anxious and we were all going through a tough time,” Hwang said. “I kept thinking about my father as I began to write this story. I was thinking that I wanted to write about a duck or a hen, and decided on a hen. This (animal) to me represented my father because this hen appears outwardly to be very ordinary but is actually not ordinary at all on the inside.”

Hwang said she was so poor as a child that she was unable to attend middle school, but thanks to a teacher who gave her a key to the classroom, she could go to the school and read books whenever she wanted. She enrolled in high school by taking a certificate examination and went on to graduate from Gwangju University.

Since it was set up in 2006, the Seoul Literary Society has become a popular meeting place for Korean literature enthusiasts and the writers that they treasure.

Many foreign envoys took part in this SLS session, including the ambassadors of Turkey, Ireland, Romania, Norway and Denmark.

Through the years, SLS has hosted some of Korea’s highest-regarded wordsmiths. SLS hosted Kim Young-ha, author of “I Have the Right to Destroy Myself,” and poet Kim Seung-hee, author of the novel “The One Who Goes to Santa Fe.”

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)