Author Talks:
Kim Choyeop & Anton Hur

In If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Korean science fiction superstar Kim Choyeop leads us to places we never thought we’d reach, imagining worlds galaxies away and unfamiliar lifeforms with near-dizzying humanity. A stunning and poignant collection of literary speculative fiction stories that explore the complexities of identity, love, death, and the search for life’s meaning, Kim’s stories dismantle the borders between normal and abnormal, material and abstract, earthly and otherworldly. With unforgettable inventiveness and pathos,  If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light heralds the arrival of an essential voice in contemporary fiction.

In this episode of Author Talks, Kim and her English translator Anton Hur discuss her English debut.


About the Authors:

Kim Choyeop has a master’s degree in biochemistry from Pohang University of Science and Technology. When she burst onto the Korean literary scene, her short story ‘Lost on Premises’ received immediate recognition at the 2017 Korean Science Fiction Awards. She is also the recipient of the Minumsa Writer of the Year Award and the Munhak Dongne Young Writer Award. Her first short story collection If We Can’t Travel at the Speed of Light has sold over two hundred thousand copies in Korea alone. She is also the author of two more short story collections, The World I Just Left Behind and The Bookstore of Planetary Languages. Kim’s first novel, Greenhouse At the End of the Earth, became an instant bestseller in South Korea.

Anton Hur is the author of Toward Eternity and the translator of Kim Choyeop’s If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Bora Chung’s Cursed Bunny, Baek Sehee’s I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, Lee Seong-bok’s That Summer’s End, Kyung-Sook Shin’s Violets, and others. He was double-longlisted and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, a finalist for the National Book Award, and nominated for the Dublin Literary Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He resides in Seoul.


Across Languages:
New Voices in Korean Poetry

Across Languages: New Voices in Korean Poetry brings together acclaimed South Korean poets Lee Jenny, Yoo Heekyung, Oh Eun, and Shin Hae-uk with award-winning literary translators Archana Madhavan and Stine An, for a Korean–English bilingual reading and conversation to share the dynamism and innovations of language in Korean poetry culture. Through poetry and discussion, the speakers examine the cultural centrality of poetry in Korea and consider translation as a critical, creative practice that reshapes how literature circulates, sounds, and is felt across languages.

This program is presented in partnership with Ugly Duckling Presse and Zephyr Press.

       


About the Speakers:

Yoo Heekyung is an acclaimed South Korean poet, playwright, and essayist. He is the author of over ten collections of poetry and prose, including Today’s Morning Vocabulary (Moonji Books, 2011), Winter Night Rabbit Worries (Hyundae Munhak, 2023), and Photography and Poetry (Achimdal Books, 2024). Yoo studied creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts and playwriting at the Korea National University of Arts, and debuted as a poet in 2008 when his poem won the Chosun Ilbo’s spring literary contest. A recipient of Today’s Young Artist Award from the South Korean Ministry of Culture (2023), Hyundae Munhak Literary Award (2020), and the Gosan New Writer Award (2019), Yoo lives in Seoul where he runs the poetry bookshop and project space Wit N Cynical.

Lee Jenny is a South Korean poet and writer, born in Busan in 1972. In 2008, she made her literary debut with the poem “Peru” which won the Kyunghyang Daily News New Writer’s Award. She has since published four poetry collections: Maybe Africa (2010), As We Don’t Know Us (2014), The Things That Were Thus Scribbled (2019), The Sentences That Aren’t Even There are Beautiful (2019), Eternity Looks Back at the Future (2026), and an essay collection Dawn and Music (2024). She was the recipient of the Kim Hyun Literary Prize in 2016 and the Hyundae Munhak Award in 2022.

Oh Eun was born in Jeongeup, Jeollabuk-do in 1982. He graduated from the Department of Sociology at Seoul National University and received a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Culture Technology at KAIST. He began his poetic career in the pages of Modern Poetry in 2002. His work includes the poetry collections The Pigs at Hotel Tassel, We Love Ambience, Something from Something, The Left Hand’s Feelings are Hurt, I Had a Name, The Pronoun for Nothingness, the young adult poetry collection Matters of the Heart, and the essay collections You, I, and Yellow, Patting, Wearing Green, Why Not, People Who Only Become Kin at Night. He has won the Park In-hwan Literary Award, Gu Sang Poetry Award, Modern Poetry Award, Poet’s Notebook Award and Daesan Literary Award. He belongs to the poetry collective Jangnan(作亂).

Shin Hae-uk was born in Chuncheon in 1974. Shin’s major works include the poetry collections Precise Arrangement, Biologicity, syzygy, Caecilians, and Natural History from the Edge of the Natural; the novel The Dream Reader Electrical Shop; and the essay collections Book for Just One and Looking out the Window. Her honors include the Kim Hyun Literature Award, the Shin Tong-mun Literature Prize and the Daesan Literature Award.

Stine An is a poet, literary translator, and performer in New York City. She holds a BA in Literature from Harvard College and an MFA in Literary Arts from Brown University and is the recipient of fellowships and grants from The Poetry Project, the PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant, Yaddo, ALTA, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her publications include Today’s Morning Vocabulary (Zephyr Press, 2025) and Winter Night Rabbit Worries (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2026) by Yoo Heekyung, and S_MMER CR_SH (Sarabande Books, 2025). Their debut poetry collection, B-Dragon Suite, is a winner of the 2023 Nightboat Poetry Prize.

Archana Madhavan translates Korean poetry and prose into English. Her past book-length works include Kim Hyun’s Glory Hole (co-translation, 2022) and Amil’s Roadkill (2025). Her translation of Lee Jenny’s first book of poetry Pirowa Padowa was shortlisted for the Granum Translation Prize in 2023 and won the Malinda A. Markham Translation Prize in 2024. She lives in San Jose, California.


Ran Hwang | Noble Blossoms

In her solo exhibition, Ran Hwang presents large-scale installations that are both intricate and poetic, delicate yet dramatic, as they explore the cyclical patterns of life and the fleeting nature of beauty.

Hwang creates her art through a meticulous and repetitive process, utilizing everyday materials such as paper buttons and pins. This requires intense concentration and discipline, reflecting the meditative state of Zen masters and the spiritual values traditionally sought by scholars of the past. While painstaking and labor intensive, the process also embodies an aesthetic of transcending difficulty, ultimately visualizing a serene beauty and noble spirit that defines the artist’s unique perspective. Through her work, Hwang evokes a sense of tranquility, inviting the viewer into an experience that seeks fulfillment and peace.


ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Ran Hwang‘s work permanently resides in the collections of internationally acclaimed venues, including the Brooklyn Museum in New York, Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Deji Art Museum in Nanjing, Dubai Opera House, Des Moines Art Center in Iowa, New York University and National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues including AAW(Asian Art Works), Leila Heller Gallery in New York and Dubai , Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore, UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, Mass MoCA in Boston, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès in Singapore, the Facebook New York Headquarter, Baker Museum in Florida, and Venice Biennale 2024. She has won Gold Prize by AHL Foundation NY in 2004 and Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2015. Hwang has studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Author Talks:
Bo-young Kim

“Her fiction is a breath-taking piece of cinematic art itself. Reminiscent of the world we experienced in Matrix, Inception, and Dark City, still it leads us to this entirely original structure, which is a ground-breaking, mystic literary and cinematic experience. Indeed, powerful and graceful.”—Bong Joon-ho, Oscar-winning director of Parasite

In her mind-expanding work of speculative fiction, Bo-young Kim explores the driving forces of humanity—love, hope, creation, destruction, and the very meaning of existence. Straddling science fiction, fantasy and myth, her strikingly original, thought-provoking work teems with human and non-human beings, all of whom are striving to survive through evolution, whether biologically, technologically or socially. Kim’s literature of ideas offers some of the most rigorous and surprisingly poignant reflections on posthuman existence being written today.

An award-winning author widely recognized as a pioneer and inspiration in Korean literature, Bo-young Kim discusses her career in this episode of Author Talks.

 


About the Author:

Bo-Young Kim is a Korean speculative-fiction writer. Her debut work, a novella titled The Experience of Touch, unanimously won the award for the best novella at the Korean Science & Technology Creative Writing Awards in 2004. In 2010 she published a two-volume collection of short stories, The Story Goes That Far and An Evolutionary Myth. 2013 saw the publication of her first novel, The Seven Executioners, which won the South Korean SF Award. Her international recognition grew with On the Origin of Species and Other Stories, translated by Sora Kim-Russell and Joungmin Lee Comfort, which was longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature. Before her career as an author, she worked as a screenwriter, game developer, and graphic designer; she has also worked as a script advisor for Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer.


Kim Koo: Dreaming of Peace Through the Power of Culture

May 28-August 31, 2026 | The Korea Society is honored to host a special exhibition honoring the life, enduring vision, and profound legacy of Kim Koo—one of the most revered leaders of the Korean independence movement. As a central figure in the Korean independence movement and the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, Kim Koo presented a visionary outlook that emphasized national strength based on culture rather than military or economic power. |

The Korea Society is honored to host a special exhibition honoring the life, enduring vision, and profound legacy of Kim Koo—one of the most revered leaders of the Korean independence movement. As a central figure in the Korean independence movement and the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, Kim Koo presented a visionary outlook that emphasized national strength based on culture rather than military or economic power. To commemorate UNESCO’s designation of 2026 as the 150th anniversary of Kim Koo’s birth, The Korea Society offers a unique opportunity to reflect on his legacy through a visual exhibition.

This exhibition is produced in partnership between The Korea Society and The Association of Commemorative Service for Patriot Kim Koo and made possible by the support of the Kim Koo Foundation.


 

Kim Koo: Dreaming of Peace Through the Power of Culture

May 28-August 31, 2026

 

The Korea Society Gallery is open only by appointment. The appointment must be made at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled visit. To make an appointment, please contact info@koreasociety.org.

Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday 10 AM-4:30 PM
By Appointment Only

 


 

Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of Kim Koo’s Birth:
Exhibition Opening & Presentation

Invitation-only

 Live Webcast: Thursday, May 28, 2026 | 6 PM (EDT)

 


Kim Koo and UNESCO’s Shared Vision of Culture — The Story Behind the 150th Birth Anniversary Designation :

UNESCO has designated 2026 as a year to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Kim Koo’s birth. This decision goes beyond a simple historical tribute; it is the international community’s official recognition that Kim Koo’s vision—achieving world peace through the “power of culture” rather than economic or military might—aligns deeply with the universal values pursued by UNESCO.

As the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, Kim Koo led the independence movement and understood the importance of international solidarity better than anyone. In 1932, following the patriotic deeds of Yi Bong-chang and Yun Bong-gil, he managed to evade the pursuit of the Japanese Imperialists and continue his activities through the vital assistance of American missionary Dr. George Fitch. Furthermore, he solidified the foundation for independence through practical cooperation with democratic nations, such as collaborating with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to prepare for “The Eagle Project,” a domestic infiltration operation. He also successfully persuaded Chiang Kai-shek to ensure the guarantee of Korean independence at the Cairo Conference. These actions demonstrate that Kim Koo’s independence movement was more than mere resistance; it was part of an international solidarity effort sharing the universal values of freedom and human rights.

Kim Koo’s true pioneering spirit became even more evident after liberation. In his essay “My Wish,” included in his 1947 autobiography Paikbum Ilji (백범일지), he emphasized moving past hatred to build a nation where everyone enjoys happiness through cultural development, thereby contributing to world peace. His vision—that humanity can only prosper together when each nation develops its unique culture and engages in mutual exchange—is strikingly consistent with UNESCO’s cultural philosophy today. 

The designation of this UNESCO anniversary year is the culmination of extensive preparations that began in June 2024. The process required meticulous attention due to various international and political circumstances. The final hurdle, consent from North Korea, was cleared through the method of “tacit consent”; leading to the final confirmation. This serves as a significant opportunity for Korea to expand its global contribution to cultural policy and discourse. At the same time, it is a meaningful declaration to the world that the spirit of Kim Koo—who fought against imperialist violence while ultimately aiming for human happiness and world peace—remains a vital universal value in our modern era.


 

The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

 

 

Y. T. Hwang Family Foundation Series on Ethics & Common Values Rabbi Angela Buchdahl with Kyung Yoon

With the ever-growing need to understand ourselves and humanity as a whole, it is necessary to examine the concepts of morality, ethics and universal values as guiding principles of the human condition. With generous support from Y.T. Hwang Family Foundation, The Korea Society presents a Series on Ethics and Common Values.

This series promotes the understanding of central themes of our human existence through a series of lectures by distinguished speakers and conversation with extraordinary individuals who exemplify the universal values in line with the mission of Y. T. Hwang Family Foundation and The Korea Society.

The Korea Society and Y. T. Hwang Family Foundation is proud to present Rabbi Angela Buchdahl in a conversation with Kyung Yoon.

 


This program is made possible by the support from Y. T. Hwang Family Foundation


 

Y. T. Hwang Family Foundation Series on Ethics & Common Values
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl with Kyung Yoon

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 | 6:00 PM (EDT)


The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 


About the Speaker:

Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl serves as the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City and is the first woman to lead Central’s Reform congregation in its 185-year history. Rabbi Buchdahl first joined Central Synagogue as Senior Cantor in 2006. In 2014, she was chosen by the congregation to be Senior Rabbi. Born in Korea to a Jewish American father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Rabbi Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained as a cantor or rabbi in North America.

Rabbi Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading worship, and she has been featured in dozens of news outlets including the Today Show, NPR, and PBS and was listed as one of Newsweek’s “America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis.” She serves on the boards of the AJC, the Asia Society, the New York Board of Rabbis, and the Yale University President’s Council. Rabbi Buchdahl’s memoir, Heart of a Stranger, released in October 2025 became an instant New York Times bestseller.


About the Moderator:

Kyung B. Yoon is the President and CEO (as well as co-founder) of the Korean American Community Foundation (KACF), the first and largest philanthropic organization in the U.S. dedicated to strengthening Korean American communities. Her career in poverty alleviation, development economics, and media encompasses her roles as the Executive Producer of Television at the World Bank Institute and a correspondent for WNYW-Fox Channel 5 where she made history as the first Korean American broadcast reporter in NYC. Kyung is currently a contributing reporter to CUNY-TV’s Asian American Life, which is broadcast nationally on PBS stations and for which she received an Emmy nomination. She has previously served as the board chair of Philanthropy New York and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, as a trustee of the New York Foundation, and as a board member of the United Way of New York City.

Artist Talk: Ran Hwang

In her solo exhibition, Ran Hwang presents large-scale installations that are both intricate and poetic, delicate yet dramatic, as they explore the cyclical patterns of life and the fleeting nature of beauty. |
Credit: Images Courtesy of the Artist; Artist photo by Lee Eun Joo | 

In her solo exhibition, Ran Hwang presents large-scale installations that are both intricate and poetic, delicate yet dramatic, as they explore the cyclical patterns of life and the fleeting nature of beauty.

Hwang creates her art through a meticulous and repetitive process, utilizing everyday materials such as paper buttons and pins. This requires intense concentration and discipline, reflecting the meditative state of Zen masters and the spiritual values traditionally sought by scholars of the past. While painstaking and labor intensive, the process also embodies an aesthetic of transcending difficulty, ultimately visualizing a serene beauty and noble spirit that defines the artist’s unique perspective. Through her work, Hwang evokes a sense of tranquility, inviting the viewer into an experience that seeks fulfillment and peace.

Hwang discusses her art and career in conversation with Bradley Bailey, the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Curator of Asian Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

 

 

Artist Talk: Ran Hwang

In-person: Friday, March 20, 2026 | 6 PM

 Video Release: Friday, March 27, 2026


The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 

 


About the Artist:

Ran Hwang‘s work permanently resides in the collections of internationally acclaimed venues, including the Brooklyn Museum in New York, Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Deji Art Museum in Nanjing, Dubai Opera House, Des Moines Art Center in Iowa, New York University and National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues including AAW(Asian Art Works), Leila Heller Gallery in New York and Dubai , Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore, UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, Mass MoCA in Boston, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès in Singapore, the Facebook New York Headquarter, Baker Museum in Florida, and Venice Biennale 2024. She has won Gold Prize by AHL Foundation NY in 2004 and Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2015. Hwang has studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

About the Moderator:

The inaugural Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Curator and Chair of Asian Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Dr. Bradley Bailey has written and lectured widely. He has enriched the MFAH’s Asian collections with hundreds of artworks and also led the groundbreaking reorganization and reinstallation of the Korea Gallery at the MFAH. Dr. Bailey earned his bachelor, master, Ph.M., and Ph.D. in art history, as well as his M.B.A., with emphasis on nonprofit management and museums, from Yale University. 


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Korea in Transition: Late 19th-Century Art in the Peabody Essex Museum Collection Korean Treasures: Collected, Cherished, Shared | The Curatorial Roundtable Modern Architecture in Korea: Travels through Terra Incognita Future Present: Contemporary Korean Art with Andy St. Louis

Korea in Transition

Courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum | 

Peabody Essex Museum’s Korean art collection, comprising nearly 2,000 works, offers a distinctive lens on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Korea—a period marked by reform, global encounter, and artistic transition. Anchored by objects from the first Korean diplomatic delegation to the United States in 1883 and Korea’s participation in the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition, the collection reveals how late Joseon art responded to shifting political realities, foreign contact, and emerging modern sensibilities. Initiated under Director Edward Sylvester Morse and enriched through donations by early travelers between Korea and the United States, including the new PEM Korean gallery’s namesake Yu Kil-Chun, the collection tells intertwined stories of continuity and transition.

Jiyeon Kim, Curator of Korean Art and Culture at PEM, will explore how the late 19th-century Joseon adapted courtly traditions and responded to new popular demands, while also considering the global interactions and human connections forged across the ocean at a pivotal moment in Korean history.

 

 

Korea in Transition: Late 19th-Century Art in the Peabody Essex Museum Collection

Tuesday, March 24, 2026 | 6:30 PM (EDT)


The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 

 


About the Speaker:

 

Jiyeon Kim is the Curator of Korean Art and Culture at the Peabody Essex Museum. She led the development of PEM’s new Korean Art Gallery, which opened in May 2025, and co-curated Jung Yeondoo: Building Dreams. She earned her Ph.D. in Korean Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles, and completed postdoctoral research at Columbia University.


You May Also Enjoy:

Korean Treasures: Collected, Cherished, Shared | The Curatorial Roundtable Modern Architecture in Korea: Travels through Terra Incognita Future Present: Contemporary Korean Art with Andy St. Louis The Flow of Ink and Color: A Journey of Korean Ink Painting by Sunglim Kim

K-pop Fandom: Performing Deokhu from the 1990s to Today with Areum Jeong

K-pop fandom’s practices and activities are a primary productive force, instrumental in shaping the genre’s immense global appeal, as well as its cultural influence, politics, and future potential. Over the last thirty years, the K-pop fandom has grown, intensified, and diversified, while its activities have taken on new social, technological, and economic manifestations, some of which are exclusive to K-pop and others that align with the broader cultural and industrial dynamics of global mass entertainment.

In this lecture, Areum Jeong will explore the phenomenon of performing deokhu—a Korean term connoting an “avid fan”—and the cultural significance and meaning of K-pop fan practices with a nuanced examination of contemporary audience power.

 

K-pop Fandom: Performing Deokhu from the 1990s to Today with Areum Jeong

Thursday, February 12, 2026 | 6:30 PM (EST)


The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 

 


About the Speaker:

 

Areum Jeong is an Assistant Professor of Korean Studies at Arizona State University. She holds a PhD in Theater and Performance Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, MA in Performance Studies from New York University, and BA in English Literature from Ewha W. University. She is the author of Beyond the Sewol: Activist Theatre and Performance in South Korea and the Diaspora and K-Pop Fandom: Performing Deokhu from the 1990s to Today.


You May Also Enjoy:

Kim Hana & Hwang Sunwoo: A Literary Conversation Korea in Transition: Late 19th-Century Art in the Peabody Essex Museum Collection YouTube & K-Pop with Robert Kyncl From Ga-yo to K-Pop

From Learning to Creating in Korea with Tyler and Nidhi

Learning the Korean language opens the doors into a completely new depth of understanding Korean culture, and perhaps a career you never imagined having. Join acclaimed media figures Tyler Rasch and Nidhi Agrawal—familiar faces from major Korean broadcast networks including JTBC, KBS, and MBC—for a reflection on their personal journeys living in Korea and learning Korean, and how those experiences led to their new venture.

In this engaging conversation, Tyler and Nidhi will delve into how language can function as both a cultural bridge and a creative medium, and how Hangeul can travel beyond Korea through design, storytelling, and shared cultural moments in everyday settings.

 

From Learning to Creating in Korea with Tyler and Nidhi

Wednesday, January 28, 2026 | 6:30 PM (EST)


The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 

 


About the Speakers:

Tyler Rasch is a media professional, bestselling author, and entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in South Korean broadcasting and cultural media. He has worked extensively with major networks including JTBC, KBS, and MBC, building a career focused on cross-cultural communication and public education. Tyler holds a BA in Public Policy and International Relations from the University of Chicago and an MA in International Relations from Seoul National University. As a co-founder of Kalphabets, he focuses on identifying new growth opportunities and developing partnerships that expand the brand’s global reach.

 

Nidhi Agrawal is an international consultant and entrepreneur with extensive experience in South Korea’s technology sector. She has worked at leading tech companies, including one of Korea’s largest unicorn startups and the country’s largest tech conglomerate, managing teams and supporting market expansion initiatives. Nidhi has led cross-border projects between Korean and Indian companies, particularly in market entry and operations. She holds an MBA from Yonsei University Business School. As a co-founder of Kalphabets, she leads team building, product development, process optimization, and the creation of a strong, community-driven brand.


You May Also Enjoy:

Korea in Transition: Late 19th-Century Art in the Peabody Essex Museum Collection Kim Hana & Hwang Sunwoo: A Literary Conversation Korean Treasures: Collected, Cherished, Shared | The Curatorial Roundtable Modern Architecture in Korea: Travels through Terra Incognita