| Time | Part | Details |
12:00-13:30 |
Part I |
Book Talk_Seo Mi-ae*Philippe Manche : About Seo Mi-ae |
Bridge Video |
Every Secret Has a Name Video clip |
|
Part II |
Book Talk_Seo Mi-ae*Philippe Manche : Seo Mi-ae and Every Secret Has a Name |
Born in 1965, Seo Mi-ae is a Korean writer and dramatist. She debuted as a novelist in 1994 with her short story “Thirty Ways to Kill Your Husband.” In the early days of her writing career, she mainly focused on short detective stories, TV drama, animation works and screenplays. Following the publication of her first collection of detective stories in 2006, she began to write full-length detective novels. Because of her notoriety as a writer of detective fiction and her loyal following, she is often called “the queen of detective fiction.” However, her most recent work pays particular attention to many problems that face our current society; problems such as child abuse, school violence, and dating violence that leads to murder. Her works include Thirty Ways to Kill Your Husband, A Welcome Murderer, The Doll’s Garden (Grand Prize Winner of the 2009 Korean Detective Literature Award), The Only Child, Arin’s Gaze, The Night Your Star Disappeared, and Every Secret Has a Name. Seo wrote the screenplay for the animation film My Beautiful Girl, Mari (2002)—Grand Prix Winner at the 26th Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Every Secret Has a Name is the sequel to the 2010 novel The Only Child, whose publication rights have already been sold in fifteen countries. While The Only Child is an exemplary psychological thriller that explores the roots of evil, this book poses the question of how psychopaths are born and bred—through the portrayal of the character Ha-Yeong at age 17. As a child, Ha-Yeong was unable to discern anything beyond her own desires. She continues to receive psychological counselling, and gradually overcomes her childhood trauma. However, the precariousness of adolescence, her family’s sudden move to a new city, and scenes of violence at her new school reignite her past trauma. As she continues to engage with society, she witnesses greater and more complex forms of violence arising from her relationships with others. Ha-Yeong eventually discovers a dark side to her nature that she’s kept bottled up, and she makes a new choice.
This gripping narrative is at once a mystery thriller about school violence and a domestic thriller that invites readers to explore the dizzying and complex psychology of a teenager turning into a psychopath. Korea’s top profiler Kwon Il-yong said, “I’ve looked into the mystery of the minds of countless criminals, but the one that is most fascinating is found in this novel.”
Phillipe Manche (57) has been reporting on culture since 1998 and has covered music, movies, and genre fiction at the Belgian daily Le Soir for 25 years. In 2004 he released a book of interviews he conducted with the recording artist Manu Chao called Destinacion Esperanza (Editions Le Serpent à plumes). From September 2019 to March 2020 He worked at the news station LN24 as the managing editor of culture. Beginning in 2017 he has been a moderator at the Quais du Polar festival in Lyon and works as a copyrighter. Now he writes about genre fiction and films for Focus Vif, a culture supplement to the Le Vif magazine. He is the father of two and has lived in Belgium for over 30 years.
