South Korean novelist Hwang Sok-yong’s novel “Mater 2-10” has been shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world.  

The Booker Prize Foundation unveiled the shortlist of six nominees on its website on Tuesday that included “Mater 2-10,” for which the novel's translators, Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae were also credited. 

The panel of judges described "Mater 2-10" as "an epic, multi-generational tale that threads together a century of national history."

The panel said the novel vividly depicts the lives of ordinary working Koreans, starting from the Japanese colonial era, continuing through Liberation, and right up to the twenty-first century.