Korea's literature translation institute to host global translators' conference

The Literature Translation Institute of Korea will host a two-day international conference to celebrate its 30th anniversary, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on Wednesday. This event, dubbed the 2026 World Congress for Korean Literary Translators and Alumni Homecoming Day, will be held on August 28-29 at the Grand Mercure Ambassador Seoul Hotel & Residences Imperial Palace. The conference will also be broadcast live for those who cannot attend in person.

The first day of the conference, titled "Moving Together: The Future of Global Korean Literature and Cultural Translation," will focus on the future of Korean literary translation on a global scale. Anders Karlsson, a Korean studies professor at SOAS University of London who specializes in translating Korean literature into Swedish, will deliver the keynote address.

This will be followed by four panel discussions exploring various aspects of translation, including literary translation aesthetics, the impact of artificial intelligence on the field, translator training, and the publishing industry.

The increase in global interest in Korean literature, fueled in part by the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to novelist Han Kang, has led to heightened attention on the need for effective translation of Korean literary works.