'The Disaster Tourist' novel takes home win at CWA Daggers

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'The Disaster Tourist' novel takes home win at CWA Daggers

English cover for author Yun Ko-eun's 2013 novel ″The Disaster Tourist" [LITERATURE TRANSLATION INSTITUTE OF KOREA]

English cover for author Yun Ko-eun's 2013 novel ″The Disaster Tourist" [LITERATURE TRANSLATION INSTITUTE OF KOREA]

 
Author Yun Ko-eun's novel "The Disaster Tourist" (2013) won in the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger category at the CWA Daggers on Thursday, becoming the first Korean literary work to do so.
 
The CWA Daggers is a prestigious literary crime-writing award hosted by Britain's Crime Writers' Association (CWA) since 1955.
 
Yun's novel was translated to and published in English last year with the support of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
 
Yun is also the first Asian author to win this category.
 
"I was surprised when my name was called as the winner," said Yun at the online award ceremony. "I feel like I've discovered a wormhole that leads to a new dimension. I will gladly enter this fantastic wormhole and write more freely in the future."
 
Lizzie Buehler, who translated the novel to English, also attended the ceremony.
 
"The Disaster Tourist" tells the story of a woman named Yona Ko, who works for a travel agency named Jungle which specializes in tours to places which have been destroyed by various disasters.
 
The book has received positive reviews in Britain and the United States since it was published in English last year. Time magazine introduced it as one of the "12 New Books You Should Read in August" in 2020.
 
Culture Minister Hwang Hee sent his congratulations to Yun and Buehler for their win on Thursday.
 
"We expect that this win will lead to more Korean literary works receiving attention from readers abroad," said Hwang.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]
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