Join PEN America, Deep Vellum, and Archipelago Books in welcoming Cheon Myeong-kwan to Dallas for a reading from his International Booker Prize-shortlisted novel Whale. Translated from the Korean by Chi-Young Kim, Whale is a sprawling adventure-satire about three interconnected women, set in a remote village in South Korea. Cheon will appear in conversation to discuss his book with writer and translator Jenny Bhatt and will be signing copies of Whale. The reading and discussion will take place at Dallas Contemporary on Sunday, June 11th at 5 pm PST, with a wine reception to follow. 

Cheon Myeong-kwan is a South Korean novelist, screenwriter, and director. Whale, his debut novel, was published in 2004 and was the winner of the 10th Munhakdongne Award. The novel has since become a contemporary classic in South Korea. His work has been translated into Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Thai, Turkish, Russian, and Vietnamese.

Jenny Bhatt is a writer, translator from Gujarati, and book critic. Her collection of short stories, Each of Us Killers (7:13 Books, 2020) won a Foreward INDIES Award. Several of her short stories have been published in anthologies, including The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021.The US edition of her translations of the stories of Gujarati short story writer Dhumketu was published by Deep Vellum in 2022.