Winners of 57th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards

The Korea Times has announced the winners of its 57th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards. This prestigious award, one of the longest-running honors for Korean literary translation, was bestowed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The Grand Prize in fiction was awarded to Breanna Hundley of the United States for her translation of Cho Ye-eun's novel "How to Get Your Deposit Back." Similarly, Jude Vandervort of the U.S. was honored with the Commendation Award for his translation of Jeong Ji-a's work "Bead by Bead."

In the poetry category, the awards were divided between two translators. Noh Hye-yeon received a Commendation for her translation of poems by Lee Su-myeong, including "To Unfold a Bird." Park Se-yeon was also commended for her translation of poems by An Hee-yeon, including "There Was a Fire."

Unlike previous years, no Grand Prize was awarded in poetry this year. The jury determined that the submissions in poetry were less compelling overall compared to the fiction entries. Consequently, they deemed two commendations a fairer representation of the promising translations in the poetry category.