Han Kang’s Booker Prize-winning 2016 novel The Vegetarian solidified her place as a master of the surreal, and is a powerful reminder that what makes surrealist narratives so haunting is the way they illuminate concerns that are real and urgent. Han, one of South Korea’s leading literary voices, joins the Pen America's World Voices Festival for the North American launch of her new novel, Greek Lessons. Following a female protagonist who loses her voice and seeks out learning Greek as a possible remedy, the book is a poignant exploration of language, the nature of pain, and the need to move on. Join Han in conversation with Katie Kitamura, author of Intimacies, for this fascinating conversation of the self and the myriad ways we seek to heal.
The Korea Society is proud to be a Cultural Partner for the World Voices Festival.
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In Conversation with Katie Kitamura
Friday, May 12, 2023 | 8 PM
@ The Strand
About the Speaker:
Han Kang was born in 1970 in South Korea. A recipient of the Yi Sang Literary Award, the Today’s Young Artist Award, and the Manhae Prize for Literature, she is the author of The Vegetarian, winner of the International Booker Prize, Human Acts, and The White Book.
About the Moderator:
Katie Kitamura’s most recent novel is the national bestseller Intimacies, which was longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction and was named one of President Barack Obama’s favorite books of Summer 2021. Her previous novel, A Separation, was a finalist for the Premio Gregor von Rezzori and a New York Times Notable Book. It was named one of the best books of the year by over a dozen publications and translated into sixteen languages, and it is being adapted for film. Her two earlier novels, Gone to the Forest and The Longshot, were both finalists for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award. A recipient of fellowships from the Lannan Foundation and Santa Maddalena Foundation, Kitamura has written for publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Granta, BOMB Magazine, Triple Canopy, and Frieze. She teaches in the creative writing program at New York University.
