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Sejong Book Club

Next meeting: Thursday, November 13, 2025 · 7:00 PM (Central Time, USA)

Format: Online via Zoom (open to participants worldwide)

The Sejong Book Club invites readers from around the world to explore Korean literature in English translation.
Led by distinguished professors of literature, our online discussions offer a welcoming space to connect through reading, reflection, and cultural exchange.

Each session highlights a major Korean work translated into English, examining its themes, historical background, and artistic vision.
Discussions are held several times a year, and all sessions are conducted in English.

Join us in discovering the depth and beauty of Korean literature—one book, one conversation at a time.

Human Acts by Han Kang

2024 Nobel Prize in Literature Winner

Set against the backdrop of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, Human Acts follows the aftermath of a young boy’s death through the voices of those left behind. Han Kang’s poetic yet unflinching prose reveals how violence, memory, and humanity intertwine long after the event itself.

Translated by Deborah Smith, this deeply moving novel asks: How do we remember, and what does it mean to remain human in the face of brutality?

 

Professor Paul Petrovic
(Associate Professor of English, Emmanuel University, GA, USA)

Paul Petrovic, Associate Professor, completed his BA and MA at Kent State University and his PhD at Northern Illinois University.

His academic interests center on Asian American literature, post-9/11 literature, contemporary American film, and the intersection between social activism and the nation-building inherent to literature. He is working on a book project about Vietnamese American literary texts that trouble both economic and legal precarity in order to uncover works that focus on more than themes of gratitude, indebtedness, and easy alliance.

Dr. Petrovic has edited the collection Representing 9/11: Trauma, Ideology, and Nationalism in Literature, Film, and Television, and published on works by John Dos Passos, Don DeLillo, and U.S. war veterans writing about the Forever Wars.

His scholarship appears in the critical collections Approaches to Teaching Asian North American Literature, Through the Black Mirror: Deconstructing the Side Effects of the Digital Age, and American Cinema in the Shadow of 9/11. He enjoys traveling and caring too much about music: indie, K-pop, and extreme metal.

source: https://eu.edu/employees/petrovic-paul/

 

Registration is required — https://bit.ly/4q7GXEg

Registered participants will receive the Zoom link, guided reading notes, and discussion materials by email.

 

The Sejong Cultural Society gratefully acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, DB Kim Jun Ki Foundation, Bisco Foundation, and the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.