Bluebeard's First Wife : Ha Seong-nan in conversation with Janet Hong

The Korean Literature Night (KLN) is a monthly discussion group that explores various themes and topics relating to that month’s chosen book. Our Korean Literature Night has gone online to ensure that you can still be a part of some great discussions about fantastic literature.

As part of our Korean Literature Night, author Ha Seong-nan will join us for a discussion about her work 'Bluebeard's First Wife’ .The talk will be moderated by Janet Hong, who translated 'Bluebeard's First Wife’. Following the talk, Ha Seong-nan will respond to questions from the audience.

[ZOOM ]

• Event Date: Wednesday 24th March 12PM-1:30PM (GMT)
• Venue: ZOOM (Online)
• Entrance Free - Booking Essential
• Apply to info@kccuk.org.uk with your name and contact details by 15th March.

The event is free of charge, but booking is essential. Please ensure that you have read the book 'Bluebeard's First Wife’ by Ha Seong-nan ahead of the event and please note that we will not be providing copies of the book for this event. Copies of the book can be found at all good bookstores and online. Please note that you can purchase the e-book through the following link: E-BOOK (please choose the format as ebook by selecting 'ebook (epub)' from the dropdown).

The link to join the Zoom Talk will be emailed to you prior to the session.

* Privacy policy: This event will be audio and video recorded through ZOOM. By attending this event, you are consenting to be recorded.

Bluebeard's First Wife

Disasters, accidents, and deaths abound in Bluebeard’s First Wife. A woman spends a night with her fiancé and his friends, and overhears a terrible secret that has bound them together since high school. A man grows increasingly agitated by the apartment noise made by a young family living upstairs and arouses the suspicion of his own wife when the neighbors meet a string of unlucky incidents. A couple moves into a picture-perfect country house, but when their new dog is stolen, they become obsessed with finding the thief, and in the process, neglect their child. Ha’s paranoia-inducing, heart-quickening stories will have you reconsidering your own neighbors.

Bluebeard's First Wife was named in the U.S. weekly news magazine Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Books of 2020. This is the second time for a Korean book to have made the list, following Han Kang's "Vegetarian" in 2016.

Ha Seong-nan

Ha Seong-nan is the author of five short story collections—including Bluebeard's First Wife and Flowers of Mold—and three novels. Over her career, she's received a number of prestigious awards, such as the Dong-in Literary Award in 1999, Hankook Ilbo Literary Prize in 2000, the Isu Literature Prize in 2004, the Oh Yeong-su Literary Award in 2008, and the Contemporary Literature (Hyundae Munhak) Award in 2009.

Janet Hong

Janet Hong is a writer and translator based in Vancouver, Canada. She has been translating literary works by notable Korean writers, including Kang Young-sook, Han Yu-joo and Kwon Yeo-sun, for the last 20 years. Her work has appeared in Brick: A Literary Journal, Literary Hub, Asia Literary Review, Words Without Borders, and the Korea Times.