'Whale' by Cheon Myeong-kwan makes International Booker Prize shortlist

The cover of "Whale" by Cheon Myeong-kwan and translated by Kim Chi-young [BOOKER PRIZE]

Cheon Myeong-kwan's "Whale" made the shortlist for this year's International Booker Awards, according to the British literary awards on Tuesday.

The five other books that were included in the recent shortlist are: "Time Shelter" by Georgi Gospodinov and translated by Angela Rodel; "Still Born" by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey; "Boulder" by Eva Baltasar and translated by Julia Sanches; "The Gospel" by Maryse Condé and translated by Richard Philcox; and "Standing Heavy" by GauZ' and translated by Frank Wynne.

"Whale" was published in 2004 and was translated into English by Kim Chi-young last year.

"An adventure-satire of epic proportions, which sheds new light on the changes Korea experienced in its rapid transition from pre-modern to post-modern society," judges of the Booker Prize wrote on its official website last month. "A fiction that brims with surprises and wicked humor, from one of the most original voices in South Korea."

The winner of the International Booker will be announced in London on May 23 and will receive 50,000 pounds ($65,000) to be shared evenly between the author and the translator.

Korean books that have previously been nominated for the International Booker Prize are "The Vegetarian" (2007) and "The White Book" (2016) written by Han Kang and translated by Deborah Smith, "At Dusk" (2015) written by Hwang Sok-yong and translated by Sora Kim-Russell, "Love in the Big City" written by Park Sang-young and translated by Anton Hur, and "Cursed Bunny" written by Bora Chung and translated by Anton Hur.

"The Vegetarian" won the prize in 2016. It is the first and only Korean work to have won the award.

The Booker Prize, founded in 2005, is considered one of the three largest literary awards in the world. It was established to honor distinguished international works of fiction that have been translated into English.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]