Gong Jiyeong facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gong Jiyeong
Born	(1963-01-31) January 31, 1963 (age 62) Mapo District, Seoul, South Korea
Pen name	111
Occupation	Novelist, influencer
Language	Korean
Nationality	South Korean
Citizenship	South Korean
Education	Yonsei University
Alma mater	Yonsei University
Period	1988 -
Genre	fiction
Notable works	The Crucible My Sister Bongsoon
Notable awards	Twenty-first Century Literature Award (2001) Oh Young-su Literature Award (2004) Yi Sang Literary Award (2011)

Gong Jiyeong (Hangul: 공지영; born January 31, 1963) is a famous South Korean novelist. She writes stories that often explore important social issues and the lives of ordinary people.

Early Life and Education

Gong Jiyeong loved literature from a young age. When she was a teenager, she even published her own stories and poems.

During her college years in the 1980s, she became involved in student movements. These movements were about bringing social change to South Korea. This experience helped her find her purpose in life. In 1985, she earned her degree in Literature from Yonsei University. Her first novel, Rising Dawn, was inspired by her involvement in these student and labor movements. Her early books tell the stories of young people who grew up during this time of protest and political change in South Korea.

Gong Jiyeong's Writing Career

Gong Jiyeong started writing full-time in 1988. Her books often focus on important topics. She writes about people who work hard, those who are less fortunate, and people who face unfair treatment. She also writes a lot about young, educated women trying to build their lives. These women often face challenges both at home and in society.

Many people see Gong Jiyeong as a feminist writer. This is because her stories often show women fighting for their rights. They also show how women try to find their place in a society that is often controlled by men. After the difficult 1980s, South Korea became more peaceful and prosperous. Students who had worked for social change found themselves in a new world. They had to learn to live ordinary lives without the strong sense of purpose they once had. For women, this meant facing a society that still had old ways of thinking about gender. Gong's books often show the anger and confusion that came from these changes.

Themes in Her Novels

One of Gong's main interests is social fairness. Another important topic for her is women's issues. She often points out that even though laws say men and women are equal, this is not always true in real life. Her 1993 novel, Go Alone Like the Horn of a Rhinoceros, directly deals with women's challenges. This book was later made into a movie in 1995 and also a play. It was the first of her novels to become a feature film.

In the late 1990s, Gong continued to write about women and workers. She also started writing about other people who were less fortunate or faced discrimination in Korean society. In her 1998 novel, My Sister Bongsoon, she showed the life of a woman in the 1960s. Her popular novel Our Happy Time discussed the topic of capital punishment. In her autobiographical novel Home of Happiness, she wrote about a household where the parents were divorced.

Our Happy Time was made into a film called Maundy Thursday. The movie became very popular when it came out in 2006. It was the first Korean novel in four years to become a bestseller, staying at the top for eight weeks.

Online Publishing and Impact

Gong Jiyeong was one of the first writers in South Korea to use the internet. She first published her novel The Crucible online in 2008. She left the story available for six months. Publishing stories in parts like this is common in South Korea, but it usually happens in newspapers.

Her 2009 novel The Crucible had a big impact on Korean society. It helped change laws about the rights of people with disabilities. When the film based on the book became a hit in 2011, it brought even more attention to these issues.

Gong is also very active on Twitter. She has many followers and uses social media to talk about social issues and share her opinions.

Personal Life

Gong Jiyeong has three children.

Works in Translation

• Almaden (Hangul: 알마덴; MR: Almaden) translated by Bruce Fulton and Ju-Chan Fulton.
• Human decency (Hangul: 인간에 대한 예의; MR: In'gan e taehan yeŭi) translated by Bruce Fulton and Ju-chan Fulton.
• My sister Bongsoon (Hangul: 봉순이 언니; MR: Pongsuni ŏnni) translated by Park Jung-eun.
• Our happy time (Hangul: 우리들의 행복한 시간; MR: Uridŭl ŭi haengbok han sigan) translated by Sora Kim-Russell.

Major Works

• 1993 - Go Alone Like a Rhino Horn (Hangul: 무소의 뿔처럼 혼자서 가라)
• 1994 - Mackerel (Hangul: 고등어)
• 1996 - The Unhurt Soul (Hangul: 상처없는 영혼)
• 1998 - My Sister Bong-soon (Hangul: 봉순이 언니)
• 1999 - Crying Existence (Hangul: 존재는 눈물을 흘린다)
• 2005 - Films of My Life
• 2005 - Our Happy Time (Hangul: 우리들의 행복한 시간)
• 2006 - I Was Alone Like a Raindrop (Hangul: 빗방울처럼 나는 혼자였다)
• 2006 - Human Decency (Hangul: 인간에 대한 예의)
• 2009 - People in the Bible for Children
• 2009 - The Crucible

Film Adaptations

The 2011 film The Crucible is based on Gong's 2009 novel of the same name. This movie is known internationally as Silenced.

Awards and Recognition

• 2001 - 7th 21st Century Literary Award
• 2001 - 27th Korean Novel and Literature Award
• 2004 - 12th Oh Young-soo Literature Award
• 2006 - 9th Special Media Award from Amnesty International
• 2007 - Korea Catholic Literature Award
• 2011 - Yi Sang Literary Award for Wander the Alleyways Barefoot

See also

In Spanish: Gong Ji-young para niños

• Korean Literature
• List of Korean novelists