SEOUL — South Korean author Mirinae Lee has been awarded the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, marking the first time a South Korean has won this distinguished U.S. literary award. Lee’s novel “8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster,” published last year, shares the biennial accolade with “Orphan Bachelors,” a memoir by Chinese American author Fae Myenne Ng.
According to Yonhap News Agency, which administer the award, Lee’s work was selected for its profound narrative and complex characters, which weave together tales from the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. The story is inspired by the life of Lee’s great aunt who fled North Korea. Judges praised the novel for its suspenseful unraveling of intricate character mysteries alongside Lee’s lyrical and evocative prose, which they described as demanding both rapid progression through the story and a slower, more contemplative engagement with the text.
Lee, who is currently residing in Hong Kong, completed her education in South Korea and later moved to the United States to study English literature at the collegiate level. Before penning her award-winning novel, Lee had contributed short fiction to several prestigious literary periodicals.