Amin Maalouf, Lebanese-French Writer, Selected for the Park Kyung-ni Literature Prize

Lebanese Journalist Turned French Citizen After Lebanese Civil War, Pursuing Artistic Work

Amin Maalouf, a French writer of Lebanese origin, selected for the 11th Park Kyung-ni Literature Award. Photo by JF PAGA Grasset. Photo courtesy of the Toji Cultural Foundation.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Land Culture Foundation announced on the 7th that the 11th Park Kyung-ri Literary Award recipient is Amin Maalouf, a French writer of Lebanese origin.

The Park Kyung-ri Literary Award was established in 2011 to honor the literary spirit of Park Kyung-ri (1926?2008). It is awarded to novelists worldwide who have preserved the intrinsic value of literature and made a significant impact on world literary history. The award is hosted by the Land Culture Foundation and Wonju City, and sponsored by the Hyupsung Cultural Foundation.

The Park Kyung-ri Literary Award Committee shortlisted 47 candidate writers after four preliminary rounds and finalized the winner through a work review in the final round. The prize money is 100 million KRW.

Amin Maalouf was born in 1949 in Beirut, Lebanon, and majored in political economy and sociology at Notre Dame de Jamhour and Saint Joseph University. From 1971, he worked as a journalist for the Lebanese daily newspaper An-Nahar. After naturalizing in France due to the Lebanese Civil War in 1976, he worked for the African current affairs weekly Jeune Afrique published in France.

His first work was "Leo Africanus" in 1986. His representative works include "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes," "The Rock of Tanios," "Ports of the Orient," and "In the Name of Identity." His recent work is "Our Unexpected Brothers."

Previously, Maalouf won the Prix Goncourt in 1993 for "The Rock of Tanios" and the European Essay Prize in 1999 for "In the Name of Identity." He also received the Asturias Award in 2010 and the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in 2016. In 2020, he was awarded the National Order of Merit by the French government and was elected as the first international writer of the Royal Society of Literature last year.

The Park Kyung-ri Literary Award has been given to authors including the inaugural winner Choi In-hoon, Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia), Marilynne Robinson (USA), Bernhard Schlink (Germany), Amos Oz (Israel), Ng?g? wa Thiong'o (Kenya), Antonia Susan Byatt (UK), Richard Ford (USA), Ismail Kadare (Albania), and Yoon Heung-gil (Korea).

The award ceremony will be held on the 13th of next month at Signiel Seoul in Songpa-gu, Seoul. A congratulatory performance will take place on the 15th at Baegun Art Hall in Wonju, and a talk session with the award-winning author will be held on the 17th at Kyobo Convention Hall.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.