Korean Literature

Angelina Lee feels like she doesn’t belong. Newly divorced, and completely unmoored by the sudden and tragic death of her mother, she hopes studying Korean will reconnect her to her roots, but nothing about Seoul feels familiar. Further complicating matters is the resurgence of an alluring man from Angelina’s past, and fellow classmate Keisuke Ono, an irritatingly good looking Japanese American journalist who refuses to leave her alone. What she’ll barely admit, however, is the true reason behind her trip. She’s convinced the key to understanding her mother’s suicide lies in Korea.

North Korea has achieved a breakthrough with nuclear warheads and is about to arm their strategic missiles - weapons that could set the world ablaze. The Echo Six unit commander, Abe Talley, is ordered to take his men across the 38th Parallel. Their mission is to locate and destroy the nukes, as well as their creators. They must enter the heart of the most secretive, repressive, and brutal nation on Earth - and somehow find a way back.

A young biracial girl joyfully celebrates both her Black and Korean cultures the best way she knows how—with the irresistible power of food!

Helena Rho was six years old when her family left Seoul, Korea, for America and its opportunities. Years later, her Korean-ness behind her, Helena had everything a model minority was supposed to want: she was married to a white American doctor and had a beautiful home, two children, and a career as an assistant professor of pediatrics. For decades she fulfilled the expectations of others. All the while Helena kept silent about the traumas - both professional and personal - that left her anxious yet determined to escape.

In a reunified Korea of the future, robots have been integrated into society as surrogates, servants, children, and even lovers. Though boundaries between bionic and organic frequently blur, these robots are decidedly second-class citizens. Jun and Morgan, two siblings estranged for many years, are haunted by the memory of their lost brother, Yoyo, who was warm, sensitive, and very nearly human. Jun, a war veteran turned detective of the lowly Robot Crimes Unit in Seoul, becomes consumed by an investigation that reconnects him with his sister Morgan, now a prominent robot designer.

Much like Lee Chang-dong’s internationally renowned films (Burning, Secret Sunshine, and Poetry), these brilliant, unsettling tales, originally published in Korea in the 1980s and now translated into English for the first time, investigate themes of injustice, betrayal, and terror—on both an intimate and national scale. Lee writes deeply and hauntingly about conflicts between family, the powerful and the vulnerable, conformists and rebels.

Jae-young has just left everything she’s ever known, not that it was much. Her thankless job, her infested apartment, her abusive boyfriend—who happens to be dead on the kitchen floor. Murder was never the way she envisioned leaving, but it was desperate times. Now, escaping her transgressions on a train to the bustling city of Seoul, Jae-young is just hoping to become invisible—safe. On the train she meets a chatty mother with her infant son who seem to be running from a similarly harsh life with her unfaithful husband, hoping to find refuge with the in-laws she’s never met.

Jihye is an ordinary woman who has never been extraordinary. In her administrative job at the Academy, she silently tolerates office politics and the absurdities of Korean bureaucracy. Forever only one misplaced email away from career catastrophe, she effectively becomes a master of the silent eye-roll and the tactical coffee run. But all her efforts to endure her superiors and the semi-hostile work environment they create are upended when a new intern, Gyuok Lee, arrives.

Jonas Stuyvesant's silver-spoon upbringing has not prepared him for the horrors of war. When Communist North Korea launches a surprise invasion of the South, Jonas finds himself leading his platoon against a well-trained, battle-hardened army. Soviet-made tanks break through the American lines. These are not the pitchfork-wielding peasants he expected. What should have been an easy victory turns into a devastating rout. Jonas and his men begin their retreat down the Peninsula, fighting a rear-guard action.

For the first time, Euna Lee - the young wife, mother, and film editor detained in North Korea - tells a harrowing, but ultimately inspiring, story of survival and faith in one of the most isolated parts of the world. On March 17, 2009, Lee and her Current TV colleague Laura Ling were working on a documentary about the desperate lives of North Koreans fleeing their homeland for a chance at freedom when they were violently apprehended by North Korean soldiers.

Working with Seoul’s premiere matchmaker, Jisu’s traditional South Korean parents are determined to ensure her success in life and love by matching her with the right boyfriend. After one too many slip-ups at school, Jisu finds herself shipped off to San Francisco to focus on her academics and approved dates, leaving her little space to figure out her own dreams. As her newly realized passion for photography lights her on fire, Jisu wonders...does she even want to find "The One"?

Judith's struggles to fit in as a half-Korean, half-Jewish kid in a tough urban neighborhood. But music lessons gave her a purpose and passion. Then chaos strikes: Judith's first love, who dumped her decades ago, returns to dazzle her with his golden pedigree and brilliant career. Her long-absent father arrives out of the blue with a snazzy car and a con man's patter, turning her mother into a love-struck flirt whom Judith barely recognizes.

Two Russian agents discover a missing nuclear weapon was hidden in an American city by North Korea. Another nuclear weapon nears Seoul in a tunnel built by North Koreans. And North Korea's new military dictator launches an all-out invasion. Will Seoul or Pyongyang be the new capital of a united Korea?

After moving from Korea to New York, Doki and his twin brother Kebi have been settling into their new home. Doki has so many new books to read! But Kebi hasn't been adjusting as easily. He has no friends! And his pranks on New York City haven't been working. Subway delays. Traffic jams. Scary smoke. New Yorkers have seen it all! It's up to Doki to cheer his brother up and come up with pranks big enough to shock their New York City neighbors in this humorous and heartwarming story inspired by the Korean mythology of dokkaebi.

Mina is the perfect daughter. Bound for Harvard, president of the honor society, straight A student, all while she works at her family's dry cleaners and helps care for her hearing-impaired younger sister. On the outside, Mina does everything right. On the inside, Mina knows the truth. Her life is a lie.

From master storyteller An Na comes the Printz Award-winning novel about a Korean girl who tells her firsthand account of trying to find her place and identity in America from the day she leaves Korea as a child to her rocky journey through the teenage years.

His tour is over, but the war rages on for Dickie, one of the forever-haunted veterans who gave up his soul during the Forgotten War. Here is a glimpse of his story, of the battleground he can never leave. Only death can conclude his final objective: closure, and peace. Join him on his road, the Korean Road, as he battles horrors he carries and those that he meets along the way.

The Korean Soul: A Collection of Poems by H. C. Kim explores themes and ideas that are of importance to Koreans around the world, such as the current stand-off between South Korea and North Korea. By hearing H. C. Kim's poems, the listener will be able to see through the soul of Koreans. These poems are powerful testimonies to collective experiences of a people who boast 5,000+ years of history.

This audiobook contains touching accounts of struggles and achievements of Korean Americans and serves an important primary source material for understanding the Korean teenage experience in the United States. This audiobook contains biographical accounts of a diverse group Korean Americans. Kenny Yoon, a junior at Horace Mann School in New York, is a part of the gifted music program at The Julliard School. Kenny describes how he came to play violin and how he hopes to bring joy to people through music.

Hope is not your typical teenage girl. After a tumultuous childhood, she is once again in a new town and a new school which her mother has dragged her to. As is often the case, she is one of the only Asian kids in an all-white school and is still dealing with family issues. Hope is struggling to adjust to her new environment as a freshman in high school, where she meets a school counselor who helps her wade through the entire school year as well as pushes her to explore her past.