{"id":28352,"date":"2025-07-28T02:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T02:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/28352\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T02:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T02:37:08","slug":"women-are-writing-the-resurgence-of-sci-fi-in-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/28352\/","title":{"rendered":"Women are writing the resurgence of sci-fi in Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Author <\/p>\n

Author Kim Cho-yeop, whose 2019 bestselling collection \u2033If We Can\u2019t Go at the Speed of Light\u2033 is considered as a turning point in Korean sci-fi literature [RABBITHOLE BOOKS]<\/p>\n

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Once a male-dominated genre, science fiction in Korea is undergoing a seismic shift \u2014 and women are leading the charge.
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Over the past five years, women have surged to the forefront of the country’s sci-fi scene, not only as a growing majority of readers but also as the authors pushing the genre into the literary mainstream.
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According to Kyobo Bookstore, the country\u2019s largest book retailer, women have made up more than half of sci-fi readers since 2020 \u2014 a number that climbed to 68.2 percent in the first half of this year. That\u2019s a dramatic change from 2010, when the readership was evenly split between men and women.
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Critics and publishers alike credit this shift to a wave of best-selling female authors.
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The turning point came in 2019 with the release of “If We Can\u2019t Go at the Speed of Light” by Kim Cho-yeop, followed closely by the English translation of Bora Chung\u2019s “Cursed Bunny,” which was later short-listed for the 2022 International Booker Prize. Cheon Seon-ran\u2019s “A Thousand Blues” (2020), also a best-seller and stage adaptation, helped expand the genre\u2019s reach.
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\u201c2019 was a watershed year,\u201d said sci-fi critic Shim Wan-seon. \u201cIt marked the moment Korean sci-fi broke into the mainstream.\u201d
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\"Author <\/p>\n

Author Bora Chung [JOONGANG ILBO]<\/p>\n

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Choi Ji-in, an editor at genre-focused publisher Rabbithole Books, emphasized the ecosystem that\u2019s made that breakthrough possible. \u201cWriters like Kim Bo-yong, Bae Myung-hoon, Djuna, Chung Se-rang and Jeong So-yeon laid the foundation, and growing investments in intellectual property and nontraditional writing contests helped build momentum.\u201d
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Despite the fanfare, the rise of female writers hasn\u2019t drastically altered the gender balance among authors \u2014 at least not yet.
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According to Kim Hak-je, editor at sci-fi publisher Hubble and organizer of the Korea Science Fiction Award, “about 47 percent of the 44 authors who debuted through the award since its inception in 2016 have been women.”
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Still, \u201cThe works of writers like Kim Cho-yeop and Cheon Seon-ran have helped draw in new female readers and, in turn, function almost like brands that invigorate the sci-fi publishing ecosystem,\u201d Kim Hak-je added.
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\"Author <\/p>\n

Author Chung Se-rang [JOONGANG ILBO]<\/p>\n

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This rising popularity was underscored on July 17 when author Cho Ye-eun topped a Yes24 list that roughly translates to \u201cWriters Shaping the Future of Korean Literature,” which is filled based on responses by 440,000 readers. Known for blending sci-fi, horror and thrillers, Cho\u2019s work signals how Korean speculative fiction is evolving far beyond its niche roots.
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Cross-border collaboration between Korean and Chinese writers is also gaining momentum. Last month, Rabbithole Books published \u201cBody, Again,\u201d a Korean-Chinese sci-fi anthology that has already sold over 10,000 copies in its first month.
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The collection features works by Korean authors Kim Cho-yeop, Kim Cheong-gyul and Cheon Seon-ran, and Chinese authors Zhou Wen, Cheng Jingbo and Wang Kanyu.
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Zhou is a recipient of the Terran Prize, sponsored by U.S. author George R.R. Martin, while Cheng was the first Chinese woman to win both the Chinese Nebula Awards and Galaxy Awards, China\u2019s two most major sci-fi awards. Wang is also a Chinese Nebula Awards winner.
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\"Author <\/p>\n

Author Cheon Seon-ran [RABBITHOLE BOOKS]<\/p>\n

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What, then, sets these women\u2019s works apart?
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That question was raised at a recent roundtable celebrating the anthology\u2019s release during the Seoul International Book Fair.
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\u201cThere weren\u2019t enough female characters in previous generations of sci-fi, so I deliberately try to include many,\u201d said Kim Cho-yeop. \u201cWhat makes sci-fi fun is the chance to depict women in ways that differ from how they are shaped by current sociocultural norms.\u201d
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Just as the number of female characters has grown, so has their diversity. The stories break away from gender stereotypes: Relationships between women aren\u2019t always harmonious, and female characters aren\u2019t automatically cast as morally righteous.
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In \u201cBody, Again,\u201d the narrator in Kim Cho-yeop\u2019s piece, whose title is translated to \u201cSweet and Tepid Sadnes,s\u201d feels discomfort when another woman approaches her too easily, assuming closeness based on shared gender.
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\"Author <\/p>\n

Author Cho Ye-eun [JOONGANG ILBO]<\/p>\n

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In Cheng\u2019s contribution, which translates roughly to \u201cThe History of the Orchid,\u201d the protagonist Chen Meilan is an eccentric older woman known around her neighborhood as \u201cthe strange lady.\u201d
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Many of these stories also weave social critiques into their narratives.
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\u201cIn the past decade, we\u2019ve seen attempts to explore issues like gender, labor, artificial intelligence and the climate crisis through the unique framework of sci-fi,\u201d said critic In Ah-young, who has served as a judge for the Korea Science Fiction Award since 2022. \u201cRather than being a niche genre, sci-fi is becoming increasingly mainstream in the broader literary landscape.\u201d
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\"The <\/p>\n

The cover of \u201cBody, Again,\u201d a Korean-Chinese sci-fi anthology published by Rabbithole Books [RABBITHOLE BOOKS]<\/p>\n

BY CHOI HYE-RI [[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Author Kim Cho-yeop, whose 2019 bestselling collection \u2033If We Can\u2019t Go at the Speed of Light\u2033 is considered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,49,48,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-28352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}