| Time | Title | Contents |
14:00 | Opening | Almond Book Trailer Clip |
14:00-15:30 |
Part I |
Book Talk_Sohn Won-pyung*Lu Sihao : About Sohn Won-pyung |
Bridge Video |
The book Almond |
|
Part II |
Book Talk_Sohn Won-pyung*Lu Sihao : Sohn Won-pyung and Almond |
Born in 1979 in Seoul, Sohn Won-pyung studied sociology and philosophy at Sogang University and studied film directing at the Korean Film Academy of Arts. She made her literary debut in 2017 when her first full-length novel Almond won the 10th Changbi Prize for Young Adult Fiction. In 2001, she won the 6th Cine21 Film Review Award. Besides writing fiction and film reviews, Sohn has written and directed a number of films, including her feature directorial debut Intruder (2020). Her second full-length novel Born in 1988 won the 5th Jeju 4.3 Peace Literary Award. She is the author of the full-length novel Prism, the short story collection House of Others, and the short story “Man Inside the Box” published in the anthology The Second Ending.
Yunjae has difficulty feeling emotions like fear or anger, and thus struggles to read into what people say or do. He tries very hard to lead ‘an ordinary life’, and his mother ‘teaches’ him to smile back at people or express gratitude when people show him a favor. Condemned as a monster, Yunjae takes everything at face value. Then, a tragic incident leaves him all alone in the world.
He feels like he’s lost everything, but soon new friends enter his life—a boy named Gon who has difficulties of his own, a warm-hearted girl named Dora, and Dr. Shim who offers his help. Yunjae’s interaction with them reminds us that it is both a challenge and a gift to comprehend other people’s emotions.
The winner of the 10th Changbi Prize for Young Adult Fiction, Almond is more compelling than a film and more intense than a drama. This unique coming-of-age story about a boy without emotions captivates readers from start to finish, and has special resonance in an era fraught with ‘apathy’. The way different characters forge relationships with one another and sympathize with the sorrow of others is depicted brilliantly in such a gripping plot that unfolds like a film.
Lu si hao was born in 1991 in Jiangsu province, China. After getting his bachelor’s degree from Australian National University, he received a master’s degree in finance at Melbourne University. He is the author of 5 collections of essays, including Time’s Answer, Did You Also Walk A Long Road?, and You Have to Believe That There Isn’t a Tomorrow That Hasn’t Yet Come. Two of his essay collections, Wake Me Before You Go and I Hope that Someone Will Be with You on Your Journey have been translated into Korean.
