Kim Young-ha facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Young-ha Kim
Born	(1968-11-11) November 11, 1968 (age 56) Hwacheon, South Korea
Occupation	Novelist
Alma mater	Yonsei University
Genre	Fiction
Notable works	I Have the Right to Destroy Myself
Notable awards	Yi Sang Literary Award, Dong-in Literary Award
Korean name
Hangul	김영하
Hanja	金英夏
Revised Romanization	Gim Yeong-ha
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Yŏngha

Young-ha Kim (born November 11, 1968) is a famous writer from South Korea. He is known for his modern novels and short stories. His books often explore interesting ideas about life in today's world.

About Young-ha Kim's Life

Kim Young-ha was born in Hwacheon, South Korea, on November 11, 1968. Because his father was in the military, his family moved around a lot when he was a child. When he was young, he got sick from coal gas and lost some of his memories from before he was ten years old.

He went to Yonsei University in Seoul. He studied Business Administration there, but he was more interested in writing stories. After finishing university in 1993, Kim served in the military. He worked as an assistant detective.

His career as a professional writer began in 1995. His short story A Meditation On Mirror was published. The next year, he won an award for his novel, I Have a Right to Destroy Myself.

Kim used to teach at the Korean National University of Arts. He also hosted a radio show about books. In 2008, he decided to leave these jobs to focus only on writing. Kim also translates English novels into Korean. For example, he translated F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. He also spent time as a visiting scholar at Columbia University in the United States.

Young-ha Kim's Creative Works

Kim Young-ha's first novel, I Have the Right to Destroy Myself, came out in 1996. This book has been translated into many languages around the world. These include English, French, German, and Chinese.

His historical novel Black Flower won the Dong-in Literary Award in 2004. This book tells the story of Korean workers who moved to Mexico. They later became involved in a military uprising led by Pancho Villa. Kim got ideas for this novel from old stories and histories of people moving to new places.

Another well-known novel is Your Republic Is Calling You. In this book, Kim explores what it means to be a person in modern Korean society. The story is about a North Korean spy and his family living in Seoul. It mixes crime fiction with a family story. This novel has also been translated into seven languages, including English.

Kim Young-ha is known for writing about city life in the 1990s. His stories often use unusual settings to explore how modern life and city culture affect people. He writes about feelings like loneliness and the difficulty of talking to others.

His second novel, Why Did Arang, is based on an old legend. The legend is about a girl named Arang who was murdered. She becomes a ghost who tries to show who killed her. In Kim's novel, this ancient legend happens at the same time as a story about two people today. One is a hairdresser named Yeongju, and the other is a writer named Park. The story acts like a detective novel, trying to solve the mysteries.

Many of Kim's stories have been turned into films and musicals.

• My Right to Ravage Myself (2003)
• The Scarlet Letter (2004)
• Total Messed Family (2014), based on his novel Brother Has Returned
• Memoir of a Murderer (2017), based on A Murderer's Guide to Memorization

His novel The Quiz Show was also made into a musical. Fans online also enjoy his work and have made videos and animations inspired by his stories. In 2005, Kim also won an award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the movie A Moment to Remember.

Young-ha Kim's Personal Life

Kim Young-ha married Jang Eun-soo in 1996. At that time, he was working for Yonsei University's language school. He has chosen not to have children.

Books by Young-ha Kim

Novels

• I Have the Right to Destroy Myself (1996)
• Why, Arang (2001)
• Black Flower (2003)
• Your Republic Is Calling You (2006)
• Quiz Show (2007)
• I Hear Your Voice (2012)
• A Murderer's Guide to Memorization (2013)

Short Stories

• The Pager (1997)
• The Vampire (1998)
• Whatever Happened to the Guy Stuck in the Elevator? (1999)
• Brother has Returned (2004)
• Nobody {Blank} What Happened (2010)
• Only Two Person (2017)

Essays

• Gulbi Fishing (2000)
• Kim Young-Ha, Lee Woo-il's Movie Story (2003)
• Daily Life (2001)
• Post-it (2002)

His Books in Other Languages

English

• Your Republic Is Calling You (2006)
• Black Flower (2003)
• Brother has Returned (collection of short stories)
• Photo Shop Murder (2003)
• I Have the Right to Destroy Myself (2007)
• Diary of a murderer and other stories (2019) – This book includes:
  • Diary of a murderer
  • The origin of life
  • Missing child
  • The writer

Other Languages

I Have the Right to Destroy Myself

• Tengo Derecho a destruirme (Spanish)
• Kendimi yıkmaya hakkım var (Turkish)
• Ik heb het recht mezelf te vernietigen (Dutch)
• Mám právo se zničit (Czech)
• Həyatımı məhv etməyə haqqım var (Azerbaijanian)
• Pravo na samouništenje (Croatian)
• Tôi có quyền hủy hoại bản thân (Vietnamese)

Whatever Happened to the Guy Stuck in the Elevator?

• Kas gi nutiko lifte įstrigusiam vyriškiui (Lithuanian)
• Hur gick det for mannen som satt fast i hissen? (Swedish)
• Wampir i inne opowiadania (Polish)

Your Republic Is Calling You

• L'empire des lumieres (French)
• L'IMPERO DELLE LUCI (Italian)
• 光之帝国 (Chinese)
• Říše světla (Czech)
• Schwarze Blume [검은 꽃] (German)

Quiz Show

• Chơi Quiz Show (Vietnamese)
• Quiz Show (French)

Awards Young-ha Kim Has Won

• Munhakdongne New Writer Award (1996) for I Have the Right to Destroy Myself
• Hyundae Literature Award (1999)
• Lee San Literary Award (2004) for The Brother is Back
• Hwang Sun-won Literary Award (2004) for Treasure Ship
• Dong-in Literature Award (2004) for Black Flower
• Manhae Literary Award (2007) for Your Republic is Calling You
• Yi Sang Literary Award (2012) for "The Corn and I"
• A Awards - Intelligent section (2013)

See also

In Spanish: Kim Young-ha para niños

• Korean literature
• List of Korean novelists