As Korea comes to London, with a star turn as the 2014 market focus at next month's London Book Fair, the Books podcast travels right to the source to investigate the country and its literature.
We meet Yoon Tae-Ho, a star of the booming "manwha" industry, who explains the power of this cousin to Japan's manga, and how graphic literature is made for the age of the smartphone. Hwang Sok-Yong tells us about his fictional project to exorcise the demons of a divided country, while novelist Yi Mun-Yol explains how his own family history has fed into his work, demonstrating that not all Korea's defections have been from North to South.
We hear from the Cornish-born monk who has become one of the country's most influential poetry translators, discover a fable about a brave chicken that has captivated the world and we learn what Korea's women writers make of family life in a country with the lowest birthrate in the developed world.
Reading list
The Guest by Hwang Sok-Yong (Seven Stories)
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Hwang Sun-Mi (Oneworld)
The Poet by Yi Mun-Yol (Vintage)
Our Twisted Hero by Yi Mun-Yol (Minumsa)
Please Look After Mother by Kyung Sook-Shin (Phoenix)
The British Council and Literature Translation Institute of Korea curate the Korea Market Focus cultural programme at the London Book Fair
