Seoul Like a Local published by DK Eyewitness Travel in October 2023.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Faye, a lawyer based in the UK and the powerhouse behind Faye from London, a personal e-zine curating exclusive interviews and reviews of contemporary Korean arts and culture. We discussed crossing continents, translating Korean fiction, reviewing feminist literature, and hunting down the best vegan spots in Seoul. And of course, the story behind the guidebook Seoul Like a Local published by DK Eyewitness Travel in October 2023.

I spoke about South Korean novelist Cheon Myeong-kwan’s Whale being shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize.

In the years subsequent to the recording of this interview, an increasing number of Korean authors have continued to win international literary prizes and critical acclaim. The most principal among these of course are Han Kang, who was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Much of this success has been driven by women and stories revolving around their lives. We explored the work of Han Kang (한강), Cho Nam-joo’s Kim Ji-young: Born 1982, Park Wan-suh (박완서), Oh Jung-hee (오정희), Kim Chi-won (김지원) and more. This is a broad and wide-ranging discussion that moves beyond writing and into deeper questions about what it means to be human.