This eclectic, moving and wonderfully enjoyable collection is the essential introduction to Korean literature. Journeying through Korea’s dramatic twentieth century, from the Japanese occupation and colonial era to the devastating war between north and south and the rapid, disorienting urbanization of later decades, The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories captures a hundred years of Korea’s vibrant short-story tradition.

Here are peddlars and prostitutes travelling across snow-laden fields; artists drinking and debating in the tea-houses of 1920s Seoul; soldiers fighting for survival; exiles from the war who can never go home again; and lonely men and women searching for connection in the dizzying modern city. The collection features stories by some of Korea’s greatest writers, including Yi Sang, Hwang Sogyong, Yi Munyol and Pak Wanso, as well many brilliant contemporary voices, such as Han Kang and Kim Yongha. Curated by Bruce Fulton, this is a volume that will surprise, unsettle and delight.