International Literary Exchanges

HISTORY

2006
Daesan-U.C. Berkeley Korean Writer-in-Residence Program
In order to offer talented young writers a meaningful creative experience, as well as to further literary and cultural exchanges between Korea and the U.S., the Foundation has established a Korean writer-in-residence program in collaboration with the prestigious University of California at Berkeley. Applications were received from recognized writers of poetry, fiction or drama who are less than 50 years old and after screening, the novelist Kim Yeon-soo was selected to be the first recipient of this program. The program consists of English classes, Korean translation and Korean literature classes, attendance at literary events on- and off-campus, exchanges with noted American writers, visits to various parts of the U.S.. The program lasted for 3 months from early September.
Joint lecture by Oe Kenzaburo and Kim U-chang
The Foundation, together with the Kyobo Book Centre, sponsored a joint lecture by the renowned Japanese Nobel Prize winner and thinker Oe Kenzaburo and the celebrated Korean scholar Kim U-chang, professor emeritus of Korea University. The lecture was designed to focus on the search for a solution to the tensions arising between the 3 countries of North-East Asia on account of the winds of nationalism currently blowing across the countries of East Asia, and the related sudden shift to the right in Japan. The title given to the lecture was "Toward a Vision of Peace in East Asia."
Oe Kenzaburo stressed the importance of a joint network between the different countries, transcending the divisions, while Professor Kim advocated the establishment of a sense of cultural community and the creation of a new cultural order.
Events to mark thepublication of the French edition of Lee Seung-u's La vie revee des plantes
The Foundation together with the French publisher Zulma sponsored a series of events in Paris to mark the publication of this translation. From June 12～16, the author, together with the translator, Choi Mi-kyeong (Ewha University Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation), gave interviews to major French radios, newspapers and journals; the impact of the novel's outstanding qualities on the French press could be seen in a series of articles in Le Figaro, le Nouvel Observateur, and Litteraire dot com(France's main literary Internet site), while copies of the novel were prominently displayed among the recent publications at major bookstores such as Le Fnac and Virgine.
U. S. reading tour by the poet Ko Un
The Foundation sponsored a visit to the U.S. by Ko Un for a series of readings and special events marking the publication of The Three Way Tavern (U.C.Press) and Little Pilgrim (Parallax Press), the translations of which were funded by the Daesan Foundation.
Attendance of Hwang Ji-u at a Korea-related event in Frankfurt
The Foundation sponsored the presence of Hwang Ji-u at the inauguration in Frankfurt of a Korean Garden, which was built to form a permanent reminder of Korea's having been Guest of Honor at the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair, for which Hwang Ji-u had overall managerial responsibility.