HWANGSOK-YONG

The year he turned 19, while at Kyungbock High School, he made his literary debut when his short story “Ipseokbugeun” was selected for the Sasanggye new writers’ literary prize. In 1966 he joined the Marine Corps and was sent to the Vietnam War. In 1970, his short story “The Pagoda” and play “Hwanyeongui Dot” both won the Chosun Ilbo New Year literary contest, and he began working as a writer in earnest.

The breakthrough yearThe year he turned 31, he published the story collection Strange Land and came to be seen as a leading realist writer. That year he also began serializing the epic novel Jang Gilsan in Hankook Ilbo.

In September 1984 he finished the ten-year serialization of Jang Gilsan and completed it in 10 volumes. The book sold 3.5 million copies. In 1985 he was named lead author of a record of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, then was held by the Agency for National Security Planning and sent to West Germany. In 1988 he published The Shadow of Arms, based on his experience in the Vietnam War. In 1989 he won the 4th Manhae Literary Prize for The Shadow of Arms, and in March he visited North Korea at the invitation of North Korea’s Korean Federation of Literature and Arts.

In November 1991, when his German residence visa expired, he moved to the United States. In 1993 he was arrested as soon as he returned, and was later sentenced to seven years in prison. In 1998 he was released in a special pardon. In 1999 he was included in the March 1 special pardon, which restored his civil rights.

In 2000 he published the novel The Old Garden and won the Danjae Prize and the 12th Isan Literary Prize. In 2001 he won the 9th Daesan Literary Award for the novel The Guest. In 2003 he published the novel Simcheong. In 2004 he was elected president of the National Artists Federation and received the literature category of the Manhae Grand Prize.

In 2007 he published the novel Princess Bari. In 2008 he received the Royal Salute Mark of Respect and published Evening Star, an autobiographical novel about his wandering years up to about age 21. In 2012, marking 50 years since his debut, he published the novel Sound of the Rapids.

In 2014 he reissued Sound of the Rapids with Changbi, having pulled it out of print himself after bulk-buying allegations against the publisher. In 2015 he published the novel At Dusk. In 2017 he published the autobiography The Prisoner. In 2018 he won the Prix Émile Guimet de littérature asiatique for the French edition of At Dusk. In 2019 the English edition of At Dusk made the longlist for the Man Booker International Prize. In 2020 he published the novel Mater 2-10, which he says came from an old man he met on his 1989 visit to North Korea.

The year he turned 81, the English edition of Mater 2-10 made the shortlist for the International Booker Prize. He attended the London ceremony but did not win. In 2025 he received the Gold Crown Order of Cultural Merit and published Halmae. At the KAALA Foundation, where he is the first chairman, he announced plans for the KAALA Prize. In 2026 he received the Buddhist Award from the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism.

Hwang Sok-yong (born Jan 4, 1943) made his literary debut in 1962, the year he turned 19, and became known with the story collection Strange Land in 1974, the year he turned 31, when he came to be seen as a leading realist writer. In 2024, the year he turned 81, Mater 2-10 made the shortlist for the International Booker Prize.

Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.