Discover Korea through its stories! As Korean novels attract newfound popular interest and critical acclaim worldwide, the KCCDC is launching the K-Literature Book Club: Stories of Korea to help introduce influential works in this important genre of culture.

This spring in April and May, we invite you to read and discuss three contemporary Korean literary works by celebrated authors like Nobel Laureate Han Kang and Kyung-sook Shin that explore themes of empathy, family, identity, loss, and social change in Korean society. Readers can exchange ideas and questions at each meeting while KCCDC staff will help guide casual conversations about the characters and stories in these books, providing deeper insight into Korean society and culture.

Participants are also eligible to receive a free English-language copy of the book in advance! Anyone can sign up for one, two, or all three club meetings, but please note that preference may be given to those not signed up for multiple sessions to allow greater overall participation. Selected participants will receive a final confirmation email after the sign-up period. Complimentary books must be picked up at the KCCDC in person (details below). All meetings will be in person at the KCCDC (no virtual option), and there will be one club meeting per book. Space is limited and participation is first come, first served, so secure your spot!

Already read the book? Great! You’re all set, and can simply sign up to join the club meeting for that book to learn, share, and get the most our of these amazing works of fiction.

K-Literature Book Club: Stories of Korea

Korean Cultural Center Washington, DC

Various dates, April – May 2026

Sign up Period: March 11 – 18, 2026

Book Pick-Up Dates: March 23 – 27, 2026

Questions? Email us at culturedc@mofa.or.kr for assistance regarding this program. 

Please note: preference may be given to those not signed up for multiple sessions to allow greater overall participation. Selected participants will receive a final confirmation email after the sign-up period. If you would like to be sure to join a certain session, please complete the sign-up form for that book first, and then other sessions. 

Featured Books & Meeting Dates:

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin (winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize)

Monday, April 27, 6:00 PM

Almond by Won-pyung Sohn

Wednesday, May 13, 6:00 PM

The White Book by Han Kang (Nobel Prize in Literature recipient)

Thursday, May 21, 6:00 PM

For more on each featured book, see below. All club meeting take place at the KCCDC in person (no virtual option) and will be conducted primarily in English in a casual sharing and guided conversation format. Light refreshments will be provided at each meeting. Please be sure that you can attend the in person book club session on the above date before signing up! 

UPDATE: REGISTRATION IS FULL. JOIN THE WAITLIST!

Thank you for your interest in this program! All original sessions have reached maximum capacity and are currently not accepting registration, but those who are interested are invited to join a WAITLIST for possible openings, new sessions, or future K-Literature and book club events. Thank you for you understanding and continued support! 

 Please note that book/session options will be removed from the form as they become full, and the form will close entirely when all sessions are full. 

Please Look After Mom

Kyung-sook Shin

When sixty-nine-year-old So-nyo is separated from her husband among the crowds of the Seoul subway station, her family begins a desperate search to find her. Yet as long-held secrets and private sorrows begin to reveal themselves, they are forced to wonder: how well did they actually know the woman they called Mom?

Photo © Lee Byungryul

Kyung-Sook Shin is the author of numerous works of fiction and is one of South Korea’s most widely read and acclaimed novelists. She was the first woman to be awarded the Man Asian Literary Prize (for Please Look After Mom), and she has also been honored with the Manhae Literature Prize, the Dong-in Literature Prize, and the Yi Sang Literary Prize, as well as France’s Pirx de l’Inapercu. Please Look After Mom was her first book to appear in English and has been published in twenty-nine countries with over 2 million copies sold in South Korea alone.

Almond

Won-pyung Sohn

This story is, in short, about a monster meeting another monster. One of the monsters is me.

Yunjae was born with a brain condition called Alexithymia that makes it hard for him to feel emotions like fear or anger. He does not have friends—the two almond-shaped neurons located deep in his brain have seen to that—but his devoted mother and grandmother provide him with a safe and content life. Their little home above his mother’s used bookstore is decorated with colorful Post-it notes that remind him when to smile, when to say "thank you," and when to laugh. Then a shocking act of random violence shatters his world, leaving him alone and on his own. Struggling to cope with his loss, Yunjae retreats into silent isolation, until troubled teenager Gon arrives at his school, and they develop a surprising, unlikely friendship. When Gon suddenly finds his life at risk, Yunjae will have the chance to step outside of every comfort zone he has created to perhaps become the hero he never thought he would be.

Translated by Sandy Joosun Lee.

Photo © Channel Yes

Won-pyung Sohn is a film director, screenwriter, and novelist living in South Korea. She earned a BA in social studies and philosophy at Sogang University and film directing at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. She has won several prizes, including the Film Review Award of the 6th Cine21, and the Science Fantasy Writers’ Award for her movie script. She also wrote and directed a number of short films and made her feature film directorial debut with Intruder. She made her literary debut in 2016 with Almond, her first full-length novel, which won the Changbi Prize for Young Adult Fiction. Released the following year, Counterattacks at Thirty received the Jeju 4.3 Peace Literary Prize and the 2022 Japanese Booksellers' Award.

The White Book 

Han Kang, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature

Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, Han Kang’s The White Book is a meditation on color, as well as an attempt to make sense of her older sister’s death, who died in her mother’s arms just a few hours after she was born. In captivating, starkly beautiful language, The White Book is a letter from Kang to her sister, offering a multilayered exploration of color and its absence, and of the tenacity and fragility of the human spirit.

Translated by Deborah Smith.

Photo © Paik Dahuim

Han Kang was born in 1970 in South Korea. She is the author of The Vegetarian, winner of the International Booker Prize, as well as Human Acts, The White Book, Greek Lessons, Light and Thread, and We Do Not Part. In 2024, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. According to the Swedish Academy, Han was selected for the prestigious prize—the first to a Korean author—for her "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life."