50 Novelists Select This Year's Novel... Kim Yeonsu's 'Itorol Pyeongbanhan Mirae'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] Kim Yeonsu's Such an Ordinary Future has been selected as the ‘Novel of the Year chosen by 50 Novelists’ organized by Kyobo Bookstore.

The '2022 Novel of the Year chosen by 50 Novelists' list was compiled by requesting recommendations from about 90 novelists, collecting the recommended books from 50 respondents. They were asked to recommend up to five novels published between December 2021 and November 2022 that they considered to have outstanding literary quality. A total of 97 books were recommended by the novelists, and the list was organized based on the number of overlapping recommendations from multiple people.

The book that received the most recommendations from novelists this year was Kim Yeonsu's Such an Ordinary Future, recommended by a total of ten people. Such an Ordinary Future is a collection of short stories published by Kim Yeonsu after nine years. Regarding being selected as number one, Kim Yeonsu said, "The eyes of my fellow novelists are very sharp, so to have such people read my novel favorably felt like receiving a very special compliment," and added, "Thinking that my novel could be of some help to them made my heart race."

Tied for second place with seven votes each were Kim Ji-yeon's Words Without Meaning and Elizabeth Strout's Oh, William! Words Without Meaning is Kim Ji-yeon's first collection of short stories since she began her literary career by winning the Munhakdongne New Writer Award in 2018. Elizabeth Strout's novel Oh, William! is narrated by Lucy, the protagonist of one of the author's representative works, My Name is Lucy Barton, recalling events involving her ex-husband and longtime friend William.

Tied for third place with six recommendations each were a debut author's first collection and a mid-career author's first full-length novel in 32 years. Im Seon-woo, who began her literary career in 2019, published her first collection With the Heart of a Ghost, which contains works where fantastic beings such as ghosts, mutant jellyfish, and people turned into trees blend into everyday events, provoking deep reflection. Jeong Ji-a's Father's Liberation Diary is her first full-length novel in 32 years since the 1990 publication of Daughter of the Partisan. It portrays the serious theme of 70 years of modern history after liberation through three days following the death of a former partisan father, delivering it with cheerful humor and deep emotion.

Ranked fourth with five recommendations was Lee Mi-sang's Double Writer Chorong. With provocative and audacious literary imagination, it provided fresh stimulation not only to readers but also to fellow novelists.

Fifth place, with four votes, went to Lee Ki-ho's series of short stories Don't Close Your Eyes. It depicts the lives of two young men who have just graduated from university but are burdened with student loan debt, through a total of 49 short stories.

Kang Yoon-jung, deputy editor of Munhakdongne Publishing, said, "This year was special in that not only mid-career authors but also young writers’ works were widely loved," adding, "Being able to read a variety of works by many novelists is a very rich and rare opportunity."

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