“Thinking in one culture and conveying it in another, that challenge is really interesting to me." 

South Korean literature has been receiving international accolades in the past few years, starting with ‘The Vegetarian’ winning the first-ever Man Booker International Prize in 2016. The most recent achievement was ‘the Curse Bunny’ being shortlisted for the International Booker Prize last year.

Just last week another South Korean novel was shortlisted for the same prize, ‘Whale(고래)’ written by Cheon Myeung-kwan(천명관) and translated by Kim Chi-Young(김지영). 

A veteran Korean-to-English literary translator, Kim translated award-winning best-sellers like Please Look After Mom(엄마를 부탁해) by Shin Kyung-sook(신경숙) and The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly(마당을 나온 암탉) by Hwang Seon-mi (황선미). 

The translator of 'Whale' Chi-Young Kim joined Touch Base in Seoul to tell us about being shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and more.