Writer Damon Galgut wins Park Kyung-ni Prize — Korea Herald
South African writer Damon Galgut has won the 15th International Park Kyung-ni Prize in South Korea. The award was established in 2011 by the Toji Cultural Foundation in honor of Korean writer Park Kyung-ni, Korea Herald reports. Galgut will receive a certificate, a commemorative plaque and a cash prize of 100 million won, or about $75,000.
History in his work
At a press conference in Seoul, the writer said that he would like to be able to write love stories or texts entirely free of historical context. At the same time, he said that it is difficult for authors from South Africa to separate fiction from the country’s history because of its turbulent past.
Galgut was born in 1963 and grew up under apartheid, a system of institutional racial segregation and discrimination that operated in South Africa until the first democratic elections in 1994. In the writer’s view, political power changed after apartheid laws were abolished, but the economic division of society has largely remained. He also drew attention to racial inequality in living standards: the country’s wealthiest residents are predominantly white, while its poorest are predominantly Black.
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The novel “The Promise”
The themes of inequality and unfulfilled obligations are explored in Galgut’s novel “The Promise,” which won the Booker Prize in 2021. The book tells the story of the white Swart family, who live on the outskirts of Pretoria. Over approximately three decades, family members postpone fulfilling a promise to give a house and land to their Black domestic worker, Salome. Only the youngest daughter, Amor, insists on fulfilling this promise.
According to Galgut, history and politics are part of his creative themes, but for him, the person and human character remain at the center of the novel. The writer is also due to meet Korean readers at the Park Kyung-ni Literary Park in Wonju and take part in a literary discussion in Seoul.
