THE KOREA SOCIETY

is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) organization with individual and corporate members that is dedicated solely to the promotion of greater awareness, understanding, and cooperation between the people of the United States and Korea. Learn more about us here.

Literature
Sarah Ahn’s viral food videos featuring her mother Nam Soon Ahn have captivated millions of viewers with their behind-the-scenes look at Korean cooking and multigenerational home life. Their latest collaboration is a must-have cookbook Umma: A Korean Mom's Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes, which captures the flavors, traditions, and stories of Korean cooking. The recipes are framed by mother-daughter conversations that are funny, profound, and universally relatable—plus all the… Read More

Author Talks: Lee Chang-dong

Thursday, February 27, 2025 | 5:00 PM
Author Photo: Oh Jung-mi “Lee Chang-dong is a master storyteller of any form. This collection of his early works gives a deep, stark look at human stories from a Korea not too long ago. A gift to read.” —Steven Yeun, Academy Award nominee for Best Actor Lee Chang-dong is one of South Korea’s most celebrated and influential directors. Known internationally for his films Burning, Secret Sunshine, and Poetry, Lee’s work… Read More
Author Photo © Phoebe Miu As a Korean-American, Michelle Jungmin Bang grew up in a family of doctors, then spent years traveling, researching, and training in nutrition and preventative care to write and illustrate Sun & Ssukgat: The Korean Art of Self-Care, Wellness, and Longevity. The book follows one person’s journey to heal. This book is an homage to Michelle’s Korean heritage and two decades of living in Asia. In… Read More

Author Talks: Kim Suhyun & Anton Hur

Wednesday, February 5, 2025 | 5:00 PM
In a world where it can seem impossible to feel you are ever good enough, and where it’s easy to judge yourself by the unrealistic standards, I Decided to Live as Me offers guidance and encouragement for celebrating yourself and feeling comfortable in your own skin. Kim Suhyun is a writer and illustrator based in Seoul. In her own life, she realized that her self-esteem was the biggest battle she… Read More

Author Talks: Yeon Somin

Tuesday, November 12, 2024 | 5:00 PM
Author photo credit: © Han Sehee Rising Korean literary star Yeon Somin makes her English-language debut with The Healing Season of Pottery, a feel-good story about a young woman finding solace and a sense of self through art. The winner of the prestigious Korea New Writers Award (for Lazy Kinko), Yeon’s latest, translated by the award-winning Clare Richards, is being published in eighteen countries. As elegantly molded and deeply satisfying… Read More

Author Talks: Jungeun Yun & Shanna Tan

Friday, November 1, 2024 | 12:00 PM
Welcome to Marigold Mind Laundry, where we wash away the stains from your heart. In this enchanting tale—a blockbuster bestseller in Korea—the enigmatic owner of a magical laundromat that erases people’s painful memories must learn to find her own peace before she can truly help others. Born with mysterious powers she does not know how to control, young Jieun accidentally causes her family to vanish. She vows to live a… Read More

The Other Korea: Stories from the Diaspora

Saturday, October 12, 2024 | 3:00 PM
Join authors Ery Shin (Spring On the Peninsula) and Christine Ma-Kellams (The Band) as they discuss their books and stories from the Korean diaspora. Longlisted for the 2024 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, Spring On the Peninsula is Ery Shin's debut novel about a desultory libertine who mourns a failed relationship over the course of two harsh winters. In this unprecedented portrait of millennials living in Seoul, Shin captures… Read More
"With his quietly magical debut, Kang delivers a book that only a history professor such as himself could write. The novel switches between a profoundly personal story of loss and a grand, mythic epic, poking at the varied ethics and aims of historicism as it goes."— Bustle A beautifully crafted, enriching saga inspired by East Asian mythology, The Melancholy of Untold History is Minsoo Kang’s debut novel, steeped in history… Read More

Hyeseung Song: Docile with Emma Eun-joo Choi

Thursday, July 18, 2024 | 6:30 PM
Author Photo: Jack Sorokin “Docile is the rarest of things: a scorchingly honest, beautiful, hugely evocative memoir that’s also a proper pageturner: I read it breathlessly in a single sitting, transported and deeply moved. It's at one and the same time the story of a life and a meditation on identity, family, trauma, illness, and the nature of love, art, and success. It’s wonderful.” — Helen Macdonald, New York Times… Read More

Author Talks: Miye Lee

Tuesday, July 9, 2024 | 5:00 PM
* Indies Introduce Pick for Summer 2024 “This delightful story transcends…..A comforting story of dreams, lives, and the ways people process all that reality offers them.”—Kirkus Review What if there was a store that sold dreams? Which would you buy? And who might you become when you wake up? A captivating story that will leave a lingering magical feeling in readers' minds, Miye Lee's The Dallergut Dream Department Store is… Read More
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