Cover of Vietnamese version of Jeong Yu-Jeong's 7 Years of Darkness. — Photo laodong.com.vn

HA NOI (VNS) — Vietnamese translator Vu Kim Ngan is among four people who received the Korean Literature Translation Awards in Seoul recently, the Literature Translation Institute of Korea said.

Ngan translated Jeong Yu-Jeong's Seven Years of Darkness into Vietnamese (7 Nam Bong Toi).

The same awards were presented to French, Spanish and Italian translators of other novels.

"This year, European language translations excelled in quality, were released through prominent local publishers, and received praise from the local media," poet and head of the awards panel Moon Jung-hee said in a statement regarding the reasons behind the selections.

On the dominance of novels, Moon said, "Two works of poetry translations made it to the finals, but they were unfortunately dropped due to various factors."

This year's winners are Lee Tae-yeon and the late Geneviere Roux-Faucard, who co-translated Han Kang's Breath Fighting into French (Pars, le Vent se Leve); Kwon Eun-hee and Sung Cho-rim, who co-translated Bae Soo-ah's Sunday Sukiyaki Restaurant into Spanish (El Restaurante de Sukiyaki); Andrea De Benedittis, who translated Kim Young-ha's I Have a Right to Destroy Myself into Italian (Ho Il Diritto di Distruggermi); and Vu Kim Ngan.

The Korean Literature Translation Awards, which is organised by the LTIK and is currently celebrating its 13th edition, annually honours distinguished translations of Korean literary works. A total of 76 entries in 19 languages were considered this year. The contest was judged by a panel of foreign literary figures, and finally by a panel of Korean literary and foreign language experts.

Ngan will receive a certificate and a cash prize of US$10,000.

Published for the first time in March 2011, Seven Years of Darkness is a best-seller in the country and has been translated into Vietnamese, German, French and Chinese. A movie based on the book will be made next year.

The novel follows the story of two fathers. One of them, Choi Hyeon-su, is a giant man-boy who doesn't know how to do anything well and likes only baseball. The other father, Oh Yeong-je, is a dentist from a renowned landowning family in the area. In reality, he's a violent and narcissistic psychopath.

Translator Ngan and writer Jeong Yu-Jeong will interact with the public on November 27 in Ha Noi. — VNS