The 4th & 5th Lee Hochul Literary Prize for Peace Press Conference

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Writer 이호철통일로문학상 Date Created23-01-28 20:41

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- held on Nov. 25th, at the Korea Press Center in Seoul
- Both Arundhati Roy (India), the 4th Grand Laureate, and Jenny Erpenbeck (German), the 5th Grand Laureate, attended the occasion together

On the morning of the 25th, Nov, a press conference for the 4th and 5th Lee Hochul Literary Prize for Peace was held at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul.

‘The Lee Hochul Literary Prize for Peace’ was established in 2017 by the Eunpyeong-gu Office to honor the late author Lee Hochul, the foremost Korean author of unification literature, and his literary works and spirit that are deeply rooted in longing for the reunification of the Korean peninsula. The Prize selects writers who strive to overcome the worldwide problems caused by racism, discrimination, violence, and war through his or her literary practice and spirit.

The press conference was meaningful in that the 4th prize winner, Arundhati Roy from India, and the 5th prize winner, Jenny Erpenbeck from Germany, both were present for it. Roy, who had an online press conference last year due to Covid-19, attended the press conference in person this time. She made the occasion more than meaningful to hear her critical thoughts on the global issues such as the weak, conflicts, the environment, nuclear tests, and war both as a writer known for an outstanding imagination and beautiful language and as an ardent activist. Moreover, Jenny Erpenbeck, the 5th Grand Laureate and from East Germany, is one of the writers whose status is rising in the unified German literary world with works written with a tenacious spirit. Her works received a lot of attention from the reporters attended the conference for giving us a chance to reflect a long-held task of unification of the Korean Peninsula and the whereabouts of unification literature.

The Lee Hochul Literary Prize for Peace, which celebrates its 5th anniversary this year, is receiving a growing attention every year for its prize winners and with its objectives firmly rooted in unification literature born in the painful reality of the division of South and North, and in focusing on writers dealing with global issues. We look forward to the meaningful growth of the Lee Hochul Literary Prize for Peace, which is moving forward step by step toward ‘unification’ by practicing its will to overcome the difficulties with the power of literature.

Kim Mi-kyung, Mayor of the Eunpeyong-gu Office said that she was grateful to the prize winners for their works striving to share and overcome the global issues such as conflicts, violence, and gender discrimination through literature and asked for a continued attention to the Lee Hochul Literary prize for Peace.

* Press Releases from Major Newspapers

“The pandemic is a societal illness that exposed the fault-lines of global injustice”

Choi Jeabong, The Hankyoreh

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“Happiness is a beautiful sentence... writing is something that is so internal a process to me”

Choi Jeabong, The Hankyoreh

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Arundhati Roy, the 4th prize winner says "literature is a weapon of integration beyond borders“
Jenny Erpenbeck, the 5th prize winner “resolves individual pain in the history of division”

Ryu Inha, The Kyunghayng Shinmun

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Jenny Erpenbeck, writer from East Germany, says “North and South Korea must take off arrogance and respect each other”

Yang Jungwoo, Yonhapnews

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“Unification, neither side should be arrogant.. But respect each other”

Han Sobeom, Hankookilbo

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“If North and South Korea become unified, let go of each other’s arrogance.”

Ha Jonghun, The Seoul Shinmun

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Roy says “the pandemic is an X-ray that reveals the contradictions of division, rich and poor, and class”