Kyung-sook Shin on The Court Dancer: A Reading and Discussion
Friday, September 28th at 7 pm
Book Culture LIC
26-09 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, NY 11101
Tickets: Free
Join Book Culture LIC on Friday, September 28th at 7pm for a reading and discussion of Kyung-sook Shin's The Court Dancer.
Set during the dramatic final years of the Korean Empire, the new novel from Man Asian Literary Prize winner Kyung-Sook Shin features a mysterious dancer caught up in the dizzying sweep of history.
Based on a remarkable true story, the New York Times bestselling author of Please Look After Mom brilliantly images the life of Yi Jin, an orphan who would fall under the affections of the Empress and become a jewel in the late Joseon Court. When a novice French diplomat arrives for an audience with the Emperor, he is enraptured by the Joseon Dynasty’s magnificent culture, then at its zenith. But all fades away when he sees Yi Jin perform the delicate traditional Dance of the Spring Oriole. Though well aware that women of the court belong to the palace, the young diplomat confesses his love to the Emperor, and gains permission for Yi Jin to accompany him back to France. A world away in Belle Epoque Paris, Yi Jin lives a free, independent life, away from the gilded cage of the court, and begins translating and publishing Joseon literature into French with another Korean student. But even in this new world, great sorrow awaits her. Yi Jin’s grieving and suffering is only amplified by homesickness and a longing for her oldest friend. But her homecoming was not a happy one. Betrayal, jealousy, and intrigue abound, culminating with the tragic assassination of the last Joseon empress—and the poisoned pages of a book. Rich with historic detail and filled with luminous characters, Korea’s most beloved novelist brings a lost era to life in a story that will resonate long after the final page.
Kyung-sook Shin was born as the fourth child in a large family in a rural town in South Korea. She moved to Seoul when she was sixteen, worked at a company that manufactured stereo systems during the day and attended high school at night. When her factory went on strike, she would rest her notebook on the conveyor belt and copy out whatever novel she was reading. This is how her first literary endeavors began. Later, she attended Seoul Institute of the Arts to study creative writing and published her first short story at the age of 22. To this day, she has published 7 novels, 7 collections of short stories and 3 books of essays. In 1993, she won Young Artists of Today Award; in 1994, Hyundae Literary Award; in 1995, Manhae Literature Prize; in 1997, Dong-in Literature Prize; in 2001, Yi Sang Literary Prize, among other literary prizes in Korea. In 2006, she won the Prix de L'Inapercu in France. Please Look After Mom is her sixth full-length novel. 1,500,000 copies were printed. Please Look After Mom, is the first and only Korean NY TIMES BESTSELLER and she was the first woman and first Korean to win the the Man Asian Prize for it. PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOM was published in more than forty foreign languages. Shin followed with I’LL BE RIGHT THERE and THE GIRL WHO WROTE LONELINESS. Kyung-sook Shin was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in New York. THE COURT DANCER is her fourth novel to be published in English and will be published all over the world and has been submitted for the 2018 Booker International Prize.
For more information, please visit: www.bookculture.com/event/lic-kyung-sook-shin-court-dancer