Author Talks: Hwang Bo-reum

The charming slice-of-life novel Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by debut novelist Hwang Bo-reum became an instant smash hit with Korean readers. Now, the irresistible bestseller is available to English readers for the first time with an effervescent translation by Singaporean translator Shanna Tan.
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop brings to life the escapist fantasy of ditching the corporate grind in pursuit of passion, daring to ask the question that all book lovers dream about: what if I quit my job and opened a bookstore?
In this episode of Author Talks, Hwang Bo-reum discusses her career and her English debut.
For more information, please visit the link below:
www.koreasociety.org/arts-cul...

[@flo8969]

This book changed my life 🤍

[@michaelgeros3248]

감사합니다 화보름for writing this book! 감사합니다 to Shanna Tan for the English translation! A truly amazing book! - the entire book is a “serious conversation” for me, as opposed to a book that is just “chatter”. I highly value and much appreciate your writing. I’ve listened to some commentary on your book that describes the book as “cosy”. For me, it is much, much deeper than being cosy. In my view, this is a book about soul wounds, with subsequent healing over time. Returning to believing in yourself and loving yourself again, through work and relationships. It is ironic that work and relationships are frequently the cause of wounds in a person’s life, but that, almost contradictory, healing can occur through more meaningful work and relationships. For me, one of the main messages (themes) of this book is healing yourself; putting yourself (your heart) first! For me, you make an interesting comment in your interview about collectivism and familialism in Korean society, versus loving yourself. I am not an expert by any measure of Korean society, but what strikes me as being very true is that collectivism/familialism seems to have higher value in Korean society than loving yourself first. This saddens me. I believe that you cannot give what you don’t have; that loving yourself needs to happen first, before you can love (or be considerate) of others. I also liked your comments about serious conversation versus chatter, and sharing with sincerity - much needed values in any society! I feel that the last paragraph in the chapter “A test of feelings” reflects two crucial questions that everyone needs to answer for themselves, not only in their relationships, but for life in general: “Do I really know myself?” “Is my heart important?

[@cindyr4918]

I enjoyed this book and the message behind it. It was lovely to hear directly from the author what her intentions were for the book, and how she came to write it. Thank you for conducting this interview and sharing it online.

[@johnarmstrong3509]

I really enjoyed the interview and hope that it stays online on youtube. If it does I will definitely share the link with my fellow students in my adult Korean language class. I think they will be very interested to hear what the author says about finding one’s true path in the modern highly competitive and stressful world, not only in Korea but in many other countries as well including my own. I read the book in Shanna Tan’s great translation, but I hope in another year or two I will be able to read it in Hwang jakkanim’s original Korean. 😊

[@MarkHastings-jc3bw]

I have not yet read the book but plan to very soon. Really enjoyed this interview!