Which Korean books are winning over readers abroad?
SEOUL – Sales of Korean literature abroad more than doubled in 2024, driven by a wave of international enthusiasm and a historic Nobel Prize win by Han Kang, according to new data released by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) on Wednesday.
Books supported by LTI Korea's translation and publication grants sold about 1.2 million copies abroad last year, a jump of more than 130 percent from 520,000 in 2023.
The survey also showed that between 2020 and 2024, 942 titles across 40 languages sold a cumulative 2.68 million copies — up 730,000 from the previous five-year period (2019-2023).
Both the number of titles released and overall sales soared in 2024. The average number of copies sold per book hit a record high of 1,271, with 45 titles surpassing 5,000 copies and 24 exceeding 10,000.
Among the bestsellers were Han Kang's 'Greek Lessons' (English), Kim Ji-yun's 'Yeonnam-dong's Smiley Laundromat' (English), Park So-young's 'Snowglobe' (English), Lee Mi-ye's 'The Dallergut Dream Department Store' (French), Kim Ho-yeon's 'The Second Chance Convenience Store' (German) and Son Won-pyung's 'The Majestic Fox Tail' (Russian).
Several titles have established themselves as steady sellers, including Bora Chung's 'Cursed Bunny' (English), Park Sang-young's 'Love in the Big City' (English) and Cho Nam-ju's 'Kim Ji-young, Born 1982' (German), each selling more than 4,000 copies annually for three consecutive years.
Healing fiction continued to show strong growth in overseas markets. Korean runaway bestsellers like 'The Second Chance Convenience Store,' 'The Dallergut Dream Department Store' and 'Marigold Mind Laundry' have steadily built wide readerships abroad, said an LTI Korea official.
In Turkey, 'Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop' sold over 80,000 copies in 2024 alone, while in Poland, over 20,000 copies of 'The Second Chance Convenience Store' were sold.
Genre literature also made gains.
The German edition of the first book in Lee Yeong-do's 'Bird That Drinks Tears' series sold more than 20,000 copies, while Keum Suk Gendry-Kim's graphic novel 'Grass' (Spanish) has surpassed 10,000 annual sales for three years running.
Han's Nobel win in 2024 proved a decisive catalyst for Korean literature's global reach, according to LTI Korea.
Han's works, translated into 28 languages and published in 77 editions with LTI Korea support, sold approximately 310,000 copies last year alone. Interest extended beyond her latest releases: Annual overseas sales of her pre-2023 titles jumped fivefold, from about 30,000 copies in 2023 to 150,000 in 2024.
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