Welcome to the second guest lecture by children's book author Jeon Hyun Jeong.

Searching for disappearing things 

In this lecture Jeon Hyun Jeong will speak about her experiences in the Antarctic and issues of climate change she addresses in her literary works. In 2018, Jeon Hyun Jeong was selected as member of the ROK’s Antarctic Expedition team to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the King Sejong Station in Antarctica and visited the station and the Antarctic Specially Protected Area. The trip to the Antarctic left a deep impression on her and made her to think more deeply about environmental questions. Among the books she has written recently, in 2018, is The Night Show of Migratory Birds (Han pam-ŭi ch’ŏlsae t’ongsin). It describes the suffering of migration birds due to environmental change caused by humans. Another book, One Berry (Yŏlmae hana), discusses the diversity of life. The author wrote it with a motif from an article on the possible extinction of banana. It conveys a message where human’s self-centeredness in wishing to eat only what is tasty leads to selection and mass production of a single species. The species would soon lose its inherent immunity and end up becoming extinct. 

 

Jeon Hyun Jeong is a children's book writer in Korea. She majored in Architecture and worked at an architecture design firm. After leaving the company, she wrote travel columns as a freelance writer and worked as a monitor for the Korean broadcasting network MBC. She studied TV drama writing at the Korea Television and Radio Writers Association. However, after she became a mother she fell in love with reading children’s books and started to write her own stories. She received the 19th Golden Goblin Award with “Cheer Up!” Eun Chan, a children’s book adapted for her daughter from a drama she previously wrote.

Jeon Hyun Jeong’s visit to Stockholm University for three months is sponsored by the Residence program of the Arts Council Korea. She will deliver two guest lectures during her stay in Stockholm.