16 March 2012

Last night at the Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong it was announced that Shin Kyung-sook, author of Please Look After Mother, is the winner of the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize.

The Asia Literary Review was at the event, and congratulates her on this extraordinary achievement. Shin is the first woman and the first Korean to win this prize. Her book has sold nearly two million copies in Korea alone and has now been translated into English.

Razia Iqbal, Chair of Judges, said, "The novel is a sensitive exploration of the inner life of the family with a very dynamic narrative structure. The story is surprising in its complexity yet has a beating heart at the centre of it."

Please Look After Mother is reviewed here by the Asia Literary Review's Kelly Falconer. Look out for an interview with Ms. Shin in our spring issue.

News articles: 

Wall Street Journal

BBC News

BBC - Newshour - audio - listen to the headlines, and then go forward to 32 minutes, 30 seconds for the interview

BBC - The Strand - audio

The Guardian

The Spectator

The Korea Herald

Korean Modern Literature in Translation