Choi Eun-young


Choi Eun-young is a South Korean writer. She began her literary career in 2013, when her short story “Shokoui miso” was selected for the quarterly literary magazine Writer's World's New Writer's Award. With the same work, she received the 5th Munhakdongne Young Writer's Award in 2014. She was awarded the 8th Heo Gyun Writer's Award in 2016, and was awarded the 8th Munhakdongne Young Writer's award in 2017.

Life

Choi Eun-young was born on March 3, 1984, in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggido. Her writing was influenced much by her relationship with her father, who was a teacher. Her father, who was a member of the Korean Teachers and Educations Workers Union, had a very critical view of social issues, but was conservative when it came to his views on gender and other related issues. Choi Eun-young fundamentally agreed with her father's views, but grew up resisting his views on gender.
In 2002, she entered Korea University and studied Korean Literature. She attended university during a time when there were still lingering effects from Korea's 1997 financial crisis. During her undergraduate studies she always maintained a critical stance on various social issues, such as issues regarding temporary positions. This was also a time when Korea's liberal political faction was in power. At the time in Korea, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun consecutive served as presidents. Afterwards, as she lived through the years of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, Choi Eun-young came to think that the past was a much happier time. When she was a university student, she was always interested in social issues, and she also participated in making a feminist school magazine.
Having debuted in 2013, Choi Eun-young's first short story collection Shokoui miso was published in August 2016. This book has been sold widely, having been printed 12 times until March 2017. It was also selected as “2016’s Best Fiction Selected by 50 Writers”.

Writing

In the 2014 spring issue of the quarterly Munhakdongne, in the Reviews & Discussions corner, which was the first critical response to her debut work “Shokoui miso”, there is a section on “Shokoui miso” with a subtitle of ‘A Barefaced Story of Growth’. Also, a review of her collection Shokoui miso, which is a collection of all the short stories she had published in the 3 years since her debut, has evaluated that Choi Eun-young's works have a ‘narrative strength that is pure and clean’.
However, just because there aren’t any literary techniques on the surface, it's not that Choi Eun-young is not a writer who has honed her writing skills. The reason why Choi Eun-young's works do not show much literary finesse is that it's not that she's an unskilled writer, but that she is able to conceal her skills. “Bimil” is a work that shows this well. “Bimil” is a story about the death of an absent protagonist Jimin who is a temporary teacher. The story does not tell of Jimin's death, but as the story comes to its conclusion, readers become aware of this secret. And at that moment they also become aware that this is a work dedicated to the two temporary teachers that have died in the 2014 Sewol Ferry disaster. It is a story that is communicating the subject not by telling it, but via forming a sophisticated structure around it.
Another characteristic of Choi Eun-young's writing is her interest in political and social issues. Other than “Bimil”, “Michaela” also deals with the issue of the Sewol Ferry disaster. “Eonni naui jakeun sunae eonni” talks about the Inhyukdang incident, and “Ssinjjao ssinjjao” talks about issues regarding South Korea’s participation in the Vietnam War. “Hanjiwa yeongju”, and “Meongoteseo on norae” are works that show the author's interests in feminism.

Works

  • Shokoui miso, 2016.

Awards

  • Munhakdongne Young Writer's award, 2017.
  • Heo Gyun Writer's Award, 2016.
  • Munhakdongne Young Writer's Award, 2014.