Literature

  • Korean Messiah with Jonathan Cheng

    Monday, April 13, 2026 | 6:30 PM
    Join us for a book talk with Jonathan Cheng, author of the new history book Korean Messiah, which explores “the rise of the Kim dynasty and its surprising ties to American Christianity.” The Wall Street Journal’s current China bureau chief and former Korea bureau chief, Cheng's book documents the profusion and lasting impact of Christianity in North Korea’s current capital of Pyongyang, which was once described as the “Jerusalem of the East.” Based on letters, diaries, and archival materials, his book reveals... Read More
  • Author Talks: Kim Hana & Hwang Sunwoo

    Tuesday, January 20, 2026 | 5:00 PM
    • Youtube Video:
    Two Women Living Together, the bestselling Korean memoir by Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo, is an insightful and heartwarming book that offers a fresh perspective on female friendship, chosen family, and the different ways one can make a “good” life. After years of living alone, Hana and Sunwoo, two single women in their forties, decided to pool their resources and buy an apartment together. What started as a practical arrangement blossomed into a profound partnership, a found family of two women and their four... Read More
  • Author Talks: You-Jeong Jeong

    Thursday, October 9, 2025 | 5:00 PM
    • Youtube Video:
    Author Photo © Hong Jinwhan From master of crime and suspense fiction You-Jeong Jeong comes Perfect Happiness, a thrilling domestic nightmare.Everyone in Yuna’s life is desperate to keep her happy: her partners, parents, and terrified six-year-old daughter. Even when she’s not blaming or hitting, the threat of her mood keeps her family from bonding, touching, or even speaking long enough to realize she’s playing them against each other. But when little Jiyoo’s feverish memories of loons hint at a troubling crime,... Read More
  • Ed Park: An Oral History of Atlantis with Mira Jacob

    Thursday, September 4, 2025 | 6:30 PM
    • Youtube Video:
      A deadpan, wildly imaginative collection of stories that slices clean through the mundanity and absurdity of modern life, An Oral History of Atlantis is the newest collection of short stories from Ed Park, the author of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Same Bed Different Dreams.In this utterly original collection, characters question the fleetingness of youth and art, reckon with the consequences of the everyday, and find solace in the absurd, the beautiful, and the sublime.... Read More
  • Author Talks: Cheon Seon-Ran

    Tuesday, August 12, 2025 | 5:00 PM
    • Youtube Video:
    SICA A bestseller in Korea, The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran is a biting, fast-paced vampire murder mystery exploring queer love and the consequences of loneliness. When four isolated elderly people die back-to-back at the same hospital by jumping out of the sixth-floor window, Su-Yeon doesn't understand why she's the only one at her precinct that seems to care. But her colleagues at the police force dismiss the case as a series of unfortunate suicides due to the patients' loneliness. But Su-Yeon doesn't... Read More
  • Julia Riew & Brad Riew @ The Strand

    Tuesday, July 29, 2025 | 7:00 PM
    Author Photos Ramona Park & Marcos Ramirez Join us for an in-person event at The Strand with debut authors Julia Riew and Brad Riew for the release of their new novel The Last Tiger.Inspired by true stories from the authors’ grandparents’ lives during one of the darkest periods in Korean history, The Last Tiger is a young adult fantasy novel about the power of love to give voice to a broken people.In a colonized land where tigers are being hunted to extinction and ancient magic stirs, two star-crossed... Read More
  • Author Talks: Kyung-Ran Jo

    Tuesday, July 15, 2025 | 5:00 PM
    • Youtube Video:
    Author Photo © Park Jae-hong "A memorable existential tale." —Publishers WeeklyAn atmospheric, melancholic novel about a successful sculptor who decides to commit suicide by artfully preparing and deliberately eating a lethal dish of blowfish, Kyung-Ran Jo's Blowfish is a postmodern novel in four parts, alternating between the respective stories of a female sculptor and a male architect. The narrative loosely approximates a love story, but this is no romance in the normal sense. For the woman, the man is a... Read More
  • Writing YA Novels with Claire Ahn and Kat Cho

    Wednesday, May 28, 2025 | 6:30 PM
    • Youtube Video:
      Young adult literature is rapidly becoming one of the most popular genres in publishing today. Also increasingly visible are YA novels featuring Asian American and Pacific Islander characters at the forefront, providing insight into the expectations and identity issues many members of the AAPI community experience and offering a unique perspective on these universal themes.Catherine Hong will moderate a discussion between YA authors Claire Ahn and Kat Cho about their latest books, the growing popularity of... Read More
  • Author Talks: Soyoung Park

    Tuesday, May 6, 2025 | 5:00 PM
    • Youtube Video:
    Author Photo: Nara Shin Prepare for the thrilling and highly anticipated conclusion to the instant New York Times bestselling book from Korea, which was named a Cosmopolitan Best Young Adult Book of the Year and a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year. Promising even more dark secrets and shocking surprises, Snowglobe 2 sinks deeper into Chobahm's frozen world, where the only truth that matters is the story that's being told. In a time when constant winter reigns, the climate-controlled city of Snowglobe offers a... Read More
  • Umma: A Korean Mom's Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes

    Thursday, April 10, 2025 | 6:30 PM
    • Youtube Video:
    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 food is backed by the... Read More