Children’s book writer Lee Geum-yi tells tale of HCCA nomination and her own fictional world
![Children’s book writer Lee Geum-yi last month was shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, often dubbed the Nobel Prize for children’s literature. She is now the first Korean author to make the list. Her novels depict young adults struggling with realistic problems such as dysfunctional family issues. [KWEN HYEK-JAE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/03/04/be818041-5a86-4bfb-b44f-b66fcab61ab9.jpg)
Children’s book writer Lee Geum-yi last month was shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, often dubbed the Nobel Prize for children’s literature. She is now the first Korean author to make the list. Her novels depict young adults struggling with realistic problems such as dysfunctional family issues. [KWEN HYEK-JAE]
Children’s book writer Lee Geum-yi early this year was shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award (HCAA), often dubbed the Nobel Prize for children’s literature, along with five other big-name authors.
Having debuted in 1984 with a short story titled “Younggu and Heukgu,” the 62-year-old author has been writing realistic stories of young adults who grow up in dysfunctional families or experience sexual abuse. Some of her best-selling books include “You Are a Twilight Lily, Too” (1999) and “Yujin and Yujin” (2004).
The HCAA was established in 1956 to pay tribute to Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875). The prestigious prizes are given to one author and one illustrator every two years.
Illustrator Lee Suzy in 2022 became the first Korean to win the HCAA.
Lee Geum-yi is now the first Korean author to make the final shortlist of the HCAA.
The winner of the HCAA will be announced on April 8.
The JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, sat down with Lee earlier this month for an interview.
The following are excerpts of the interview, edited for length and clarity.
Looking at your recent works such as “Can’t I Go Instead” (2016) and “The Picture Bride” (2020), it seems like your fictional world has been expanding. Do you agree?
As a young adult fiction writer, I found myself feeling frustrated one day because most of my stories take place in schools, homes and hagwon [cram school], and I felt I was being limited. So I decided to expand the time and space. Korean teenagers are quite near-sighted as they tend to put priority on the imminent national college entrance exam. I wanted to let them know there’s a bigger world out there and help them experience a different period. That’s how I began writing stories about young girls who flew to Hawaii to get married during the Japanese colonial period [in 'The Picture Bride'] and women who had to live by drifting from Japan to Russia to the United States during the Japanese colonial period ['Can’t I Go Instead'].
Are you drawn to the stories of women who go through turbulent periods of our history?
The stories are set during the Japanese colonial rule, but I wanted to shed light on the lives of young women who toiled away instead of writing about some grand themes such as ethnicity or ideology issues. From a general point of view, their lives are far from being successful, but I wanted to say their lives are beautiful.
There were reports that you were inspired to write the story of “The Picture Bride” by a photograph. Is that true?
Many Korean men landed jobs at sugar cane farms and left for Hawaii during the Japanese colonial period. They couldn’t come to Korea for blind dates, so they married through the so-called photo matchmaking. They chose their brides out of several given photos. Then their chosen brides left for Hawaii to marry men whom they had never met before. I put myself in a 16-year-old girl’s shoes. The girl must have crossed the ocean with only a single photo of her groom-to-be. These thoughts became the basis of my novel.
The fiction falls into the category of diaspora literature. Do you think non-Korean readers can relate to the story?
I think diaspora literature has become a genre in the North American market as it touches upon the lives of immigrants and minorities. Readers in the United States are interested in this genre as their country consists of immigrants.
How did you end up writing stories for children and young adults?
When I was young, I loved to just curl up with a good book. So I dreamed of becoming an author since I was young. One day, I found all my stories were themed on children because children’s books made me the most happy. So I naturally began writing stories for them.
Many adults also love to read your books. Why do you think that is?
My first target readers are children and teenagers, but these stories are relatable even to grown-up readers because they have experienced those periods in their lives.
BY HONG JI-YU [kjdculture@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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