Yun Young-su was born in 1952 in Dongsung-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Later, she pursued an active career, publishing various collections such as Jaringobiui jukeumeul aedoham (자린고비의 죽음을 애도함 Mourning the death of a miser), Nae yeojachingu-ui gwi-yeoun yeonae (내 여자친구의 귀여운 연애 The cute dating life of my girlfriend), and Gwigado (귀가도 Come back home).
In 2008, her collection Nae anui hwangmuji (내 안의 황무지 The desert inside me) won the 3rd Namchon Literature Prize, and in the same year she won the 23rd Manhae Literature Prize with her collection Soseol sseuneun bam (소설 쓰는 밤 A night of writing fiction).
[2] Yun has mostly dealt with stories of those cast out from Korean society such as the sick, the crippled, gangsters, the disabled, and women, as well as with relationships of families that are on the brink of breakdown.
Literary critic Shin Seungyeop has said that “through the invisible paradox of the novel that such human dignity is realized through the special condition of a mentally disabled protagonist, this work is even more of a shock to us the reader,” and he pointed out that this “shines even brighter when in contrast with so many other characters who are crumpling without any dignity due to the destructive for of capitalism.”[3]