A Reading with Cheon Myeong-Kwan

PEN Dallas/Fort Worth and Brooklyn-based not-for-profit publisher Archipelago partner with the Korean Cultural Center, and Deep Vellum to bring Korean author Cheon Myeong-Kwan to Dallas to discuss his most recent novel, Whale, hosted by Dallas Contemporary.

Cheon Myeong-Kwan is a beloved South-Korean novelist and screenwriter. He is one of the leading voices in Korean literature today, and Whale is a masterpiece of modern fiction blending farce, social critique, fable, and fantasy. The booker judges said of Whale: “It’s hard to think of a book that had such an abundance of imagination,” while adding that the novel “is real rabelaisian stuff – grotesque bodies, violence, passion, decay, and carnivalesque laughter. This makes the book very funny, but also deeply human.”

Join us for a reading by Cheon Myeong-Kwan, followed by a conversation with Dallas-based writer, literary translator, and book critic Jenny Bhatt, who teaches creative writing at writing workshops in Dallas and the PEN America Emerging Voices fellowship program.

Signed copies of Whale will be available for purchase.

The translator for the event is Sinmin Pak.

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about cheon myeong-kwan

Cheon Myeong-Kwan is a South-Korean novelist, screenwriter, and director whose work has been translated into eight languages. Upon publication of the author’s first story, “Frank and I” (2003), he received the prestigious Munhakdongne new writer award. Cheon’s debut novel, Whale, was published the following year. It won the 10th Munhakdongne novel award and has become one of the most-loved novels in South Korea, where it is regarded as a modern classic; Whale was shortlisted for the international booker prize 2023.

about Dallas Contemporary

Dallas Contemporary is a non-collecting art museum presenting new and challenging ideas from regional, national, and international artists. Modeled after European art centers and located in an industrial building in the design district, Dallas Contemporary is one of the only institutions of its kind in the United States, offering temporary exhibitions, important lectures, and seminal learning programs. Always different. Always free. For additional information on Dallas Contemporary.

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