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 as pottery itself, this shimmering work of comfort fiction shows that there is bravery in seeking peace, slowing down, and reawakening the creativity that makes us feel most alive.
Jungmin is thirty years old, alone, and completely at a loss for what to do with her life. She quits the TV news writing job that burns her out, but the months afterward, holed up in her barren apartment, hardly make things better. One day, her emotions boiling over, she runs out of her house screaming, and stumbles upon a new world: a neighborhood pottery studio with a kindhearted teacher she didn’t know she needed. Soyo Workshop colors Jungmin’s life with purpose and community, tools to help her heal. In the center of this newfound delight is Gisik, a magnetic new friend whose relationship just so happens to be falling apart. The soothing environment of the studio makes her feel enormously comfortable, but she can’t help but wonder if it might be worth it to disrupt her newfound peace.
In this episode of Author Talks, the author discusses her English debut.
Author Talks: Yeon Somin
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
About the Speaker:
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Yeon Somin is a rising literary talent in Korea who has made her mark in both literary and television writing. She has received multiple accolades for her writing since her career as a novelist took off in 2022, when she received the prestigious Korea New Writers Award for her debut work, Lazy Kinko. Yeon is an active contributor to the Brunch writing community and has worked as a freelance television writer for major networks, including SBS, MBC, and YTN. During her free time, she finds solace in the art of pottery. The Healing Season of Pottery is her second novel, and her first to be translated around the world. |
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