Im Seong-sun's Novel 'Consultant' Finalist for the UK Dagger Award

The Award Results Will Be Announced on July 4

Author Im Seong-sun's novel The Consultant has been shortlisted for the 2024 UK Dagger Award in the translated crime fiction category, publisher Eunhaengnamu announced on the 3rd.

The Dagger Award was established in 1955 by the British Crime Writers' Association. Alongside the Edgar Award, presented by the Mystery Writers of America, it is regarded as one of the two most prestigious crime literature awards in the English-speaking world. If The Consultant wins the Dagger Award this year, it will become the second work to do so following Yoon Go-eun's Travelers of the Night, which was the first Asian work to receive the award in 2021.

The Consultant is a work that explores the anonymity of modern people and the violence capitalism inflicts on others. The protagonist, "I," is a killer who acts on behalf of a company’s requests. However, "I" also fears the company, which dominates individuals' lives through an "invisible hand," forcing its members to helplessly "accept or resign" to everything.

Im Seong-sun debuted by winning the 6th World Literature Award in 2010 with The Consultant. She has published short story collections such as Sheep and Their Predators Wandering the Corridor and Ark of Illusions, as well as novels including Moon Geun-young Is Dangerous, Polar Sea, The Art of Self-Development, and Uroboros. She has also released essay collections like Wastefully and Pointlessly and The Longest Way Home. She received the Young Writers Award in 2018 and the SF Award Grand Prize in 2019.

During her university years, Im Seong-sun was influenced by director Kwak Kyung-taek of the film Friend, working in the directing department and participating in screenplay writing. She was responsible for the screenplays of the films Pawn and Confidential Assignment 2. She continues to work on film and drama screenplays. Thanks to her experience honed in the film industry, The Consultant has been praised for its thrilling quality, akin to watching a crime thriller movie.

The Consultant was published in translation last year by Raven Books, a subsidiary of the UK literary publisher Bloomsbury. The UK daily The Telegraph praised it as "a work combining Patricia Highsmith’s cool tone with John Dickson Carr’s ability to devise impossible crimes." Translation rights for The Consultant have also been sold to Spain, Japan, the Arab world, Turkey, Russia, and Estonia.

There are six finalists for the Dagger Award, including The Consultant. The winner will be announced on July 4.

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