[57th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards] Kevin O'Rourke Prize winner Ku Bon-seung

For Ku Bon-seung, translating fiction began with wanting to share something remarkable with friends who could not read Korean. After reading a novella by writer Danyao in the summer of 2025, Ku asked for permission to translate it. The author suggested translating the whole collection instead. That exchange led to Ku’s English translation of “Giraffe Is the Name of the World,” which won this year’s Kevin O’Rourke Prize in The Korea Times Literature Translation Awards. Working on Danyao’s fiction helped Ku understand translation as a form of testimony — taking responsibility for conveying an experience that a summary could not adequately capture. “I experienced something remarkable while reading Danyao’s works, and I knew that this quality was holistic, irreducible to a well-delivered summary,” Ku said in a written interview with The Korea Times. Simply sending friends the Korean text and suggesting translation tools would not have fulfilled that responsibility. “If I wanted to make a testimony, I should indeed make it — be responsible for it,” Ku said. “I think