Pyun Hye-young (, born 1972) is a South Korean writer."Pyun Hye-young" LTI Korea Datasheet available at LTI Korea Library or online at: http://klti.or.kr/ke_04_03_011.do# She won the 2017 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel for her novel The Hole.
Background and education Pyun Hye-young was born in Seoul in 1972.Words without borders She earned her undergraduate degree in creative writing and graduate degree in Korean literature from Hanyang University. After receiving these degrees, Pyun worked as an office worker. Many of her stories feature office workers.Necessary or true
Publishing Career Pyun began publishing in 2000. She has published three collections of stories, Aoi Garden, To the Kennels: And Other Stories, and Evening Proposal, as well as four novels, The Owl Cries: A Novel, City of Ash and Red, The Hole, and The Law of Lines.
In 2007, her collection To the Kennels won the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award. Her short story "O. Cuniculus" won the Yi Hyoseok Literature Prize in 2009 and then the Today's Young Writer Award in 2010. In 2011, Evening Proposal won the Dong-in Literary Award. Her works have several themes including alienation in modern life and an apocalyptic world, and they are often infused with grotesque images.
The novel City of Ash and Red explores irony and the dual nature of humanity.Witness to Solitude: Novelist Pyun Hye-young, by Yang Yun-eui LIST Magazine, Vol. 12, Summer 2011 It was named a "Best Book of 2018" by NPR. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
Works in English Stories "O Cuniculus," in Words Without Borders, translated by Sora Kim-Russell“O. Cuniculus” "Mallow Gardens" and "Corpses" (This is a PDF file hosted by Acta Koreana) "To the Kennels," in AZALEA, Issue 2, 2008, p. 307
Collections Evening Proposal, translated by Park Youngsuk and Gloria Cosgrove Smith, Dalkey Archive Press, 2016, To the Kennels: And Other Stories, translated by Sora Kim-Russell and Heinz Insu Fenkl, Arcade Publishing, 2024,
Novels
Works in Korean (partial)
Fiction collections 《아오이가든》(문학과지성사, 2005) 《사육장 쪽으로》(문학동네, 2007) 《저녁의 구애》(문학과지성사, 2011) 《죽은 자로 하여금》 (현대문학, 2018)
Long fiction 《재와 빨강》(창비, 2010) 《서쪽 숲에 갔다》(문학과지성사, 2012)
Awards 2007 40th Hankook Ilbo Literary Award for her collection To the Kennels 2007 The 5th Proud Cultural Impression Award 2009 The 10th Hyo-Seok Lee Literature Award 2010 The 18th Today's Young Artist Award (Literature Division) 2012 42nd Dong-in Literary Award 2014 48th Yi Sang Literary Award(in Korean) 제38회 이상문학상 대상에 소설가 편혜영. Yonhap, January 13, 2014. 2017 11th Shirley Jackson Award for best novel, for The Hole
References
External links An interview with Pyun Hye-Young at Acta Koreana Witness to Solitude: Novelist Pyun Hye-young LIST Magazine Vol.12 Summer 2011