From the Korea Herald: American to publish Korean literature series in U.S.

A joint project with Korea Literature Translation Institute, the series will consist of 25 works by Korean authors and poets. O’Brien, who founded the publisher in Chicago in 1984, is known for his preference for “lesser known” and even “avant-garde” works of literature. The company has since moved to Champaign, Illinois.

And such taste is reflected in the pieces selected for the upcoming K-lit series. The featured authors include: Yi Sang (1910-1937), considered one of the most innovative writers in modern Korean literature, and living author Yi In-seong, known for his explicit depiction of human psychology and experimental use of language.

So this has finally gone public. I wonder when the books will actually be published, considering their strategy:

A: We are doing something very unusual with these books: releasing them on the same day, all 25 books at once. Our expectation is that, with proper marketing, this fact alone will bring attention to the books as a group but also allow critics to focus on individual titles. This is the first time in American and British publishing that so many titles from a particular country have been published at once. Marketing will begin immediately, even though the books themselves will not be published for three years. I think that the books will gain significant attention and will be widely placed in stores. Authors will tour the United States, England and Ireland over several months, and we expect to gain a great deal of publicity in these countries.

I don’t know how commercial a tactic this is, but it will probably get the attention of a lot of Korean Studies librarians and get the thing sold to universities, at least.