KLTI Translation Grant Awarded!

Conclave (콘클라베)
By Oh Jin-won (오진원)
Illustrated by Yang Kyung-hee (양경희)
Image from Kyobo Book Store

Yesterday, my wife and I received a note from the Korea Literature Translation Institute (KLTI). Basically, it said that our translation of the above-depicted novel's first twenty pages has successfully passed a four-level screening process, through which we have qualified for a translation grant to finish translating the entire 495 pages. Here's the KLTI's summary of their evaluation:

아동문학 분야에서는 2편의 작품이 최종 심사 대상으로 올라왔다. 그 중 오진원의 『꼰끌라베』가 원작이 지닌 생생한 묘사의 힘을 정확하게 번역하는 동시에, 원작의 문학성을 잘 살리고 있다는 판단에서 지원 대상으로 선정되었다.

Generally, this explains that there were two applications in the field of children's literature (though there was no guarantee that either would qualify for the grant). Our application was selected for the grant due to its vividly descriptive reflection of the original work, demonstrating a capacity for exact translation while simultaneously retaining the original literary quality.

This is good news, and demonstrates what a partnership can achieve . . .