Born in Jeju, Hyun Ki Young made his literary debut through the Dong-a Ilbo New Writer’s Contest. He has served as the inaugural chairperson of the Jeju 4·3 Research Institute, the chief director of the Writers Association of Korea, and the director of the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation and is the author of the short story collections Aunt Suni, Asphalt, and The Last Shepherd; the novels The Warbling Bird at the Border, The Island Sailing on the Wind, One Spoon on This Earth, The Castle Railing, and O Jeju-do; and the essay collections For the Young Earth, The Ocean and a Glass of Alcohol, The Writer Never Grows Old, and The Wind That Blows in April. Hyun has been awarded the Shin Dong-yup Prize for Literature, the Manhae Prize for Literature, the Oh Young-su Literary Award, the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, the Jeju 4·3 Peace Literature Award, and the Daesan Literary Award. His work has been published in translation in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, and Taiwan.
