Hwang Sok-yong was born in 1943 in Changchun, Manchuria. He spent his early childhood in Pyongyang until the outbreak of the Korean War, when his family fled to the South. He made his literary debut in 1962 with the publication of the short story “Near the Marking Stone” in the journal Sasanggye. After joining the Korean Marine Corps in 1966, he got shipped off to the Vietnam War. After the war, he became involved in activism against Park Chung-hee’s military regime, and later fought to expose the truth about the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising. Following his visit to North Korea in 1989, he lived in exile in Berlin and New York. Upon returning to Korea in 1993, he was promptly imprisoned and forced to serve a five-year sentence. His novel The Guest was shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etrange in France. Hwang was awarded the Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature and longlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize for his novel At Dusk. His novels have been translated and published in many countries across the world including Japan, China, France, Germany and USA. He has written Far from Home, Mr. Han’s Chronicle, Singer, The Shadow of Arms, The Old Garden, The Road to Sampo, Princess Bari, and Familiar Things among many others. Hwang’s most recent publication is Three Generations of Railmen.
