7th Ihochol Unification Road Literary Award Grand Prize Winner 'Medoruma Shun'

Medoruma Shun, Okinawa Literature Representative, Selected for Main Award; Award-Winning Author Press Conference on 11th, Ceremony and 'Meeting with Main Award Winners' on 12th

Eunpyeong-gu (District Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) is hosting the representative unification cultural event and international literary award, the "7th Lee Ho-cheol Tongillo Literary Award."

The district has selected Medoruma Shun from Okinawa, Japan as the grand prize winner of the "7th Lee Ho-cheol Tongillo Literary Award," and writer Jin Eun-young as the special prize winner.

The press conference will be held on the 11th, and the award ceremony and related events will take place on the 12th.

Now in its seventh year, the "Lee Ho-cheol Tongillo Literary Award" was established in 2017 by Eunpyeong-gu to honor the literary activities and spirit of hope for unification of the late Lee Ho-cheol, a representative writer of unification literature who worked in Bulgwang-dong, Eunpyeong-gu for over 50 years, and to aim for a central role in future unification efforts.

Main Award Winner 'Medoruma Shun'

The winners of the 7th award were selected through fair and thorough evaluations conducted nine times from January to June this year by the Lee Ho-cheol Tongillo Literary Award Steering Committee and the Grand Prize Selection Committee, composed of experts from literature, academia, and journalism.

The 7th grand prize winner, Medoruma Shun, is a practical intellectual who actively speaks out and takes action on various social issues in Okinawa through novels, essays, critiques, and web blogs. After receiving the Akutagawa Prize, considered the most prestigious literary award in Japan, he has continuously opposed mainstream perspectives and realized his goals through "literary activism," making him one of the most notable non-Western writers of the 21st century.

He was selected for the grand prize because his work criticizes the colonial discrimination and oppression of Okinawa, the contradictions and absurdities of the power structure related to the U.S. military presence, and because he has practiced and strived for literary sublimation of these issues, aligning with the purpose of the Lee Ho-cheol Tongillo Literary Award.

The 7th special prize winner, Jin Eun-young, is a poet, philosopher, educator teaching literature and philosophy, and translator. Her poetry collections rearrange old and familiar daily life with sensory metaphors and vivid imagery, while addressing contemporary realities with philosophical reflection and poetic political consciousness.

Jin Eun-young, writer

Her major work, "I Love You Like an Old Street," presents delicate poetic beauty born from long contemplation and offers the poet’s outstanding reflections on the role of citizens through the spirit of the times centered on love and solidarity. She was selected for the special prize because she listens to voices and various life issues that are often overlooked in the community, making difficult and painful matters visible through literature in a beautiful way.

The press conference will be held at 2:30 PM on the 11th at the 19th-floor press conference room of the Korea Press Center. The award ceremony will take place at 10 AM on the 12th at the Jingwansa Korean Culture Experience Center, followed by a meeting with the grand prize winner at 2 PM. The meeting with the special prize winner will be held in October at a local cultural facility along with the newly introduced "2023 Lee Ho-cheol Tongillo Literary Award Symposium." For inquiries about the event, please contact the Culture and Tourism Division of Eunpyeong-gu Office.

Past winners of the Lee Ho-cheol Tongillo Literary Award include: ▲2017 1st Grand Prize: Kim Seok-beom, a Korean-Japanese, for "Hwasando," Special Prize: Kim Soom for "One Person" ▲2018 2nd Grand Prize: Sahar Khalifa from Palestine for "Prickly Cactus," Special Prize: Song Kyung-dong for "I Am Not Korean" ▲2019 3rd Grand Prize: Nuruddin Farah from Somalia for "Maps," Special Prize: Kim Jong-kwang for "Let's Go Play" ▲2020 4th Grand Prize: Arundhati Roy from India for "The God of Small Things," Special Prize: Kim Hye-jin for "Nine Times Work" ▲2021 5th Grand Prize: Jenny Erpenbeck from Germany for "When Every Evening Falls," Special Prize: Shim Yoon-kyung for "Eternal Legacy," ▲2022 6th Grand Prize: Yan Lianke from China for "Four Books," Special Prize: Jang Marie for "Strangers in Siberia."

Kim Mi-kyung, Mayor of Eunpyeong-gu, said, "I hope that the values of peace and harmony will spread around us through the Lee Ho-cheol Tongillo Literary Award," adding, "We will do our best to help the award become a pillar supporting stable creative activities for writers. We ask for your continued support in the future."

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