Kyung-sook Shin is First Woman to Win Man Asian Literary Prize

Posted on March 15, 2012

Kyung-sook Shin has been named the first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize. She is the 2011 prize winner. The South Korean novelist wins the $30,000 for her novel, Please Look After Mom. The translator of the novel, Chi-Young Kim, received $5,000.

Chair of Judges, Razia Iqbal said in a statement, "Please Look After Mom is an incredibly moving portrait of what it means to be a mother, but also of the tradition and modernity of the family in South Korea. The novel is a sensitive exploration of the inner life of the family with a very dynamic narrative structure. The story is surprising in its complexity yet has a beating heart at the centre of it."

The Man Asian Literary Prize was founded in 2007. The annual literary award is given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. The judges choose a longlist of 10 to 15 titles announced in October, followed by a shortlist of 5 to 6 titles announced in January. The winner is awarded $30,000 in March and the translator (if any) gets $5,000.