Kim Keum-hee

She made her literary debut in 2009 when her short story “Neoui dokyumeonteu” (너의 도큐먼트 Your Document) won the Korea Times New Writer's Contest.

[2] She won the same award in 2016 and 2017 for “Neomu hannajeui yeonae” (너무 한낮의 연애 Too Bright Outside for Love) and “Munsang” (문상 Attending a Funeral), respectively.

In particular, she was frustrated at the company’s heavy-handed behavior toward its employees, treating salary payments as a charitable act rather than fair compensation for their work.

Her second short story collection Neomu hannajeui yeonae (너무 한낮의 연애 Too Bright Outside for Love), published in May 2016, is already on its tenth edition as of April 2017 due to its high popularity among readers.

Unlike many of her Korean contemporaries, Kim is not interested in the rigidity lying beneath a seemingly flexible social order nor the despair over a life with no prospects.

For example, "Neoui dokyumeonteu" (너의 도큐먼트 Your Document) is about a woman who goes around town holding a map to look for her runaway father.

"Jo Junggyuneui segye" (조중균의 세계 The World of Jo Jung-gyun) is a short story about the anonymous poets of a bygone era who resisted South Korea’s former authoritarian government,[9] and "Sesilia" (세실리아 Cecilia) recounts the past of a rape victim and social outcast.