| Time | Part | Details |
19:00-20:30 |
Part I |
About the author : Chung Serang |
Part II |
Chung Serang and You Can Have My Voice |
Chung Serang (b. 1984) is a Korean novelist. She made her literary debut in 2010 in the SF/fantasy magazine Fantastique. She started out in the world of genre literature before venturing into Korea’s mainstream literary circles. As a writer, she takes the position of “a seam joining two pieces of fabric together.” Her aim is to establish a new platform of communication in the middle ground, blurring “the boundaries between pure literature and genre fiction.” This is particularly evident in her writing style. Chung often places ordinary people in the most extraordinary circumstances, erasing the boundaries between fantasy and reality. Her work explores the unexceptional exceptionalism of kind-hearted, altruistic people who care for those around them. She is the author of Fifty People, See You on the Rooftop, You Can Have My Voice, My Only One on Earth, School Nurse Ahn Eun-young, and From Sisun Onward. She received the Changbi Prize in Fiction in 2013 and the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award in 2017.
The eight sci-fi stories included in this collection, written by Chung Serang between 2010 and 2019, explore life in the modern world, issuing a warning against the myriad threats that face human civilization. Characters in these stories encounter strange and grave circumstances, including time travellers in search of a missing finger, a gigantic earthworm destroying a metropolis, and a man locked up in a special facility because his voice incites people to commit murder. However, the overall tone of these stories is by no means dark or serious. Rather, the characters appear healthy and humorous, and the new, alternative realities that emerge after the collapse of harmful and unsustainable situations offer a strange sense of empathy and relief. In the world of fiction, putting a new spin on the deception of a world governed by endless growth gives rise to tiny pockets of hope. The author believes that “the world will slowly begin to embrace more beings within the boundaries of dignity and respect.”
At first glance, there is nothing special or out of ordinary about the school nurse Ahn Eun-young. However, the reader shortly discovers that Ahn is an exorcist who has defeated numerous monsters and spirits since she was very young. She uses everyday objects, such as a plastic knife or a toy gun to fend off evil spirits. She is a truly enchanting female character, who is lively yet firm, comical yet brave. The novel was adapted into a popular Netflix original series (titled School Nurse Files).
Chung Serang’s first short story collection stands out with its innovative themes that go well beyond the imagination. The nine short stories included in this collection are separate, yet they are also intricately connected. The key to unravelling crevices in daily life and familiar absurdities lies in “gaiety,” which is a defining characteristic of Chung’s writing. See You on the Rooftop is at once the starting point and epitome of “the Chung Serang world.”
Kikuko Tsumura was born in Osaka, Japan in
1978. She debuted as a novelist in 2005 by winning the Dazai Osamu Prize for
her novel Maneater (later published in book form under the title You
Are Forever Younger Than Them). Since then, she has won a number of awards
including the 2008 Noma Literary New Face Prize for Music Bless You!!,
the 2009 Akutagawa Prize for The Lime Pothos Boat, the 2013 Kawabata
Yasunari Prize The Water Tower and The Turtle, the 2016 MEXT Award for
New Artists There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job, the 2017 Murasaki
Shikibu Literature Prize for A Wandering Ghost in Brazil, the 2019
Kanzen Soccer Book Award for This Is the Day and the 2020 PEN/Robert J.
Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers for ‘The Water Tower and the
Turtle’. She is the author of I Can’t Work with Alegria, Whereabouts
of Kasowski, The Eighth Muscle Council, No Kids in a Decent House,
Everything Flows, This Is the Day, and All Houses in a Boring
Residential Area.