Looking for a great read for now or the near future? Here’s a new batch of recent and upcoming book publications by Korean authors for readers of all ages!

 

Recent Books for Adults

 

My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee

My Year Abroad is veteran author Chang-rae Lee’s sixth novel. In this newest book, the narrator who addresses the reader is Tiller Bardmon, a fairly typical twenty-year-old American who lives in Dunbar, New Jersey. When Tiller meets Pong Lou, a flashy Chinese American chemist and entrepreneur, he finds a mentor whom he ends up following on a trip to Asia.

Tiller’s adventures in Asia take him and the reader through one strange situation after another. These transformative experiences are contrasted with the other major narrative arc running through the novel—Tiller’s domestic life after the trip—when he lives a quieter existence in the suburbs with an older lover and her son.

 

Kink edited by R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell

Kink, edited by R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell, is an anthology of fiction that gathers together kinky literary stories by prominent contemporary authors. Among the celebrated authors included in the collection are Carmen Maria Machado, Alexander Chee, and Roxane Gay.

The chosen stories explore kink, power, pleasure, and desire from the perspectives of characters who express diverse sexual and gender identities. Readers who pick up this provocative collection should find a wide range of stories that both appeal to and challenge their sensibilities.

 

Cleave by Tiana Nobile

Tiana Nobile’s debut poetry collection Cleave is a lyrical meditation on the tensions within identity and attachment. A Korean American adoptee, Nobile examines haunting ancestral artifacts—such as intergenerational trauma or a lost first language—that continue to linger on in an adoptee’s body and mind.

Nobile’s poetry intertwines with research and scientific discourse as she explores subjects like fetal and infant development as well as the bond between a mother and her child. The close attention that the poet pays to linguistic slippages and contradictions can even be heard in how she explains the title of her work: “Perhaps that’s why a word like ‘cleave’ felt so perfect. Once you think you have it, it slips out of your hands and changes its clothes. It keeps you on your toes.”

 

So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park

So We Meet Again is a romance novel by author Suzanne Park. In the novel, investment banker Jess Kim’s life takes a drastic turn when she learns that her firm has not only passed her over for a promotion but also laid her off because of sexist and racist prejudice. She tells them off and moves in with her mother back home in Tennessee.

Her mother, of course, tries to set her up with Daniel Choi, a lawyer, video game streamer, and pastor’s son. Daniel is actually quite charming, and with his help, Jess sets up a YouTube cooking channel. Things start to get complicated when Jess’s channel achieves wild success and she can think about being bought out. Then she learns that she’ll be meeting with her old firm—and now, Daniel is with them.

 

Recent Young Adult Books

 

Anna K: Away by Jenny Lee

Anna K: Away is author Jenny Lee’s sequel to her hit young adult romance Anna K: A Love Story, a contemporary reimagining of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. In Away, Anna heads with her father to South Korea to recuperate and connect with family after a scandalous sex tape leak and the death of Alexia Vronsky, her ex.

Readers reunite with Lee’s memorable characters from the first novel as they spend a summer in South Korea and across the US swirling through extravagance, romance, and drama as they are challenged by their lavish lifestyles and learn more about who they are.

 

Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick

Jen Frederick’s Heart and Seoul is a romance novel that focuses on Hara Wilson, a twenty-five-year-old Korean adoptee who sets off to Korea after the passing of her father.

Hara has endured her fair share of racism and microaggressions throughout her life in Iowa, but after she hears an offensive comment at her father’s funeral, she sets off to Korea to find herself and her birth parents. There she meets Choi Yujun, a man who helps her settle in as she tries to fit into a new culture. Though there are romantic aspects to Hara’s journey to learn more about herself, readers might want to be aware that this story does not have a happy ending.

 

Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi

In Mary H. K. Choi’s Yolk, Jayne and June Baek are sisters who seem to lead completely different lives. Jayne feels like she can barely scramble to keep up with her life in New York, while June seems to enjoy effortless success.

When June is diagnosed with uterine cancer, the two sisters are suddenly brought into close quarters as they learn to live with each other. They haven’t seen each other for years, so their reunion surfaces old wounds that reveal family history, their personal struggles, and their different outlooks on life. 

 

From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry by Paula Yoo

In From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry, Paula Yoo presents the history and circumstances surrounding the murder of Chinese American man Vincent Chin. Yoo follows the case through its trial and verdicts and covers the protests that demanded federal civil rights protections for Asian Americans. 

Through an examination of primary historical documents, Yoo shows the significance of Vincent Chin’s legacy for the Asian American movement as well as for civil rights more generally.

 

Recent Children’s Books

 

The Girl in the Gold Dress by Christine Paik

The main character of Christine Paik’s The Girl in the Gold Dress is Hannah, a ten-year-old girl who’s having second thoughts about performing her traditional Korean dance for her school’s talent show.  When Hannah learns about her family’s past in Korea, she’s able to find strength from her heritage, overcome her anxious shame, and share her culture with pride. Illustrations by Jung Lin Park accompany the text.

 

The Last Fallen Star by Graci Kim

In Graci Kim’s The Last Fallen Star, Riley Oh is an adoptee in a family of Korean healing witches, but Riley cannot use magic herself. Hoping to help, Hattie, her sister, devises a plan so that the two of them can share Hattie’s magic. When the plan goes haywire, Riley must embark on a journey to find the last fallen star to save her sister. Along the way, Riley encounters all sorts of supernatural beings inspired by Korean mythology.

 

Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh

In Ellen Oh’s Finding Junie Kim, the titular protagonist finds herself confronting hate and discrimination when racist graffiti appears at her middle school. When Junie then interviews her grandparents for a history project, she learns about her grandparents’ experiences of the Korean War and finds inspiration to stand up for herself and do what’s right. From her family’s past, she learns how to both find and use her own voice in the present.