KCCUK Hosts “Afternoon with Susan Choi” — Booker Prize Shortlisted Author in London Literary Dialogue

The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK), in partnership with the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency (KPIPA), hosted Afternoon with Susan Choi, a special literary dialogue with Booker Prize-shortlisted Korean-American author Susan Choi, at its London venue on Sunday, 9 November. Taking place just one day ahead of the Booker Prize announcement, the event drew considerable interest from readers, literary professionals and members of the UK publishing community.

The discussion was moderated by Sarah Howe, award-winning poet and editor at Penguin Random House, who led an insightful exploration of Choi’s latest novel Flashlight — a richly layered narrative spanning memory, place and identity across Korea, Japan and the United States.

Flashlight has attracted significant attention in British literary circles, praised for its emotional depth, ambitious structure and historical resonance. Critics have described it as one of the most formally compelling works on this year’s Booker shortlist.

Memory, Identity and the Ethics of Storytelling

Choi reflected on the central themes of her novel, particularly memory, identity and language. She opened the event by reading from the first page — “Louisa and her father walked along the breakwater…” — before explaining how Flashlight navigates the blurred boundaries between personal recollection and historical trauma.

“In writing this novel, I found myself constantly returning to Korean history and its legacies,” she noted.
“What I discovered was not a singular truth, but a layered structure of memory — fractured, complicated and deeply human. That complexity is precisely what gives narrative its life.”

The conversation further explored how naming, language and written symbols operate in the novel — not merely as tools of expression, but as carriers of emotional, historical and cultural meaning.

Choi later shared, “Reconstructing memory is not just about recovering the past — it is a moral enquiry into how we choose to live in the present.”

Audience Engagement and Literary Resonance

The audience engaged in thoughtful discussions on immigrant identity, narrative ethics, translation and the role of literature in transforming emotion into art.

One attendee asked how Choi approaches writing about anger. She responded:

“Anger is not just an emotional eruption. In writing, it becomes an act of confronting wounds — and transforming them into language. That is where the healing power of literature begins.”

Professor Youngjin Yoo of the London School of Economics reflected on the novel’s distinctive pacing:

“Some passages move quickly, while others slow almost to stillness — yet both keep moving forward. It’s striking.”

To which Choi replied, “That’s a perceptive observation. When I wrote scenes about my mother, they became unexpectedly long — not because many events unfolded, but because something subconscious kept returning to those memories.”

A Significant Moment for Korean Literature

Since its publication in June 2025, Flashlight has received widespread critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in contemporary literature.

The Booker Prize winners were announced in London on 10 November. While Flashlight did not take the top honour, it remained one of the most critically acclaimed shortlisted works — praised for its ambitious structure, historical resonance and emotional depth. Its inclusion on the shortlist has been regarded as a significant moment for both Korean and diasporic storytelling within the English-speaking literary world.

Referencing Flashlight in The New York Times (London edition), journalist Alex Marshall wrote:

“Choi expands the story of Louisa’s family into a 464-page epic that grapples with real histories across Korea and Japan. The novel reads like reportage at times — but ultimately, Choi proves that fiction can transcend history. As one character reflects: ‘That was the sort of thing you stayed alive for.’”

Seunghye Sun, Director of the Korean Cultural Centre UK, commented, “Flashlight is a powerful literary reconstruction of history — a ‘legacy of memory’ transformed into art. Through the character of Louisa, I felt a deeply emotional resonance, especially in how the novel retraces memories that travel across Korea, Japan and the United States. On the eve of the Booker Prize announcement, it felt especially meaningful to meet Susan Choi and witness how the turbulent stories of modern Korean history have found their place in global literature — conveyed through the intimate voice of a young girl.”

For more details, please visit https://kccuk.org.uk