Han Kang
I Do Not Say Goodbye Forever (작별하지 않는다 )
Republic of Korea
BOOK
Inspired by true events, this novel returns to the early years of the Republic of Korea and the massacres following the brutal suppression of the Jeju Uprising (1948–1949). One winter day, young writer Kyeongha receives a call from her friend Inson, who is hospitalized in Seoul. Inson asks her to visit her childhood home on Jeju Island and care for her parrot. Despite a fierce snowstorm, Kyeongha reaches the mountain village, where she uncovers a painful history: the long-hidden trauma of Inson’s family and her mother’s lifelong, fruitless search for her missing brother, a victim of the uprising.
Published by Odeon, 2025
AUTHOR
© Jeon Yeseul
South Korean writer Han Kang (*1970) comes from a literary family. She studied Korean literature and began her career with poetry and short stories before turning to novels. Her book The Vegetarian (2007, Czech 2017) was the first of her works translated into English and won the International Booker Prize in 2016. Her other Czech translations include Human Acts (2014, Czech 2018) and the meditative The White Book (2019). In 2024, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming only the second Korean laureate.
TRANSLATION
Petra Ben-Ari
