Booksellers have chosen "Gandanfuku" by Kim Soom, published by Minumsa, as the novel of the year, and "On Goodwill" by Moon Hyung-bae, published by Kimyoungsa, as the essay of the year.
The Korean Booksellers Association, led by Chairman Oh Myung-young, announced its 2026 Books and Author of the Year selections ahead of Bookstore Day on Nov. 11. Booksellers nationwide submitted recommendations, and a selection committee of experts from the bookselling, publishing and reading communities made the final picks in seven book categories plus one author of the year.
The title of the novel of the year refers to the one-piece dress that victims of Japanese military sexual slavery wore while living in so-called comfort stations. The novel follows a 15-year-old girl held at a comfort station in Manchuria and the time she had to endure wearing that dress. Kim does not preserve the victim as a historical symbol but restores her as a person with memory and a will to survive. The work is seen as a deepening of the author's long-running effort to go beyond reproducing tragedy and to explore how literature can bear pain and silence that could not be spoken.
"On Goodwill," selected in the poetry and essay category, collects 120 pieces the author has written about reading, trials, people and society. A jurist by profession, the author looks back on the people, books and court cases he has encountered in daily life and reflects on whether he has fallen into prejudice or self-righteousness. Also notable are the accessibility of the short, plainly written pieces, which seep naturally into readers' lives, and their popular appeal — the book topped the general bestseller list soon after publication.
In the humanities category, "Flattened Words" by Oh Chan-ho, published by Across, was selected. The book dissects the everyday language that erases social context requiring careful scrutiny and instead assigns responsibility for discrimination and suffering to individuals. Its strength lies in examining, through sociological insight, the mechanisms of competition and the habits of communication that produce hate speech.
In the science category, "Even If the World Deceives You" by Kim Sang-wook, published by Dongasia, was chosen. In an era when change is treated as progress itself and new technology generates both expectation and anxiety, the book looks less at what will change than at what does not change easily. Its structure, placing contemporary issues such as artificial intelligence, smartphones, conspiracy theories and democracy between a scientific lens and humanistic questions, also adds to the interest.
In the practical, arts and graphic novel category, "Stratum Dweller: Notes From a Semi-Basement" by Jeolja, published by Sejongmaru, was selected. In a semi-basement room, cockroaches, house centipedes, fruit flies, rats, cats and humans coexist without one another's consent. Starting from this strange cohabitation, the book revisits why certain forms of life are so easily classified as pests and why death is outsourced under the name of disinfection.
In the children's and young adult category, "Today Is My Birthday," which pairs poetry by Jin Eun-young with illustrations by Suzy Lee, was chosen. Jin's poem "After That Day," written for a child who never reached a 17th birthday because of the Sewol ferry disaster, is matched with illustrations Lee refined over a long period in memory of the children who were lost.
In the self-development, management and economics category, "The Art of Reading" by Ko Myung-hwan, published by Lagom, was selected. Built around two questions — why we should read and how we should read — the author shares how he has used books to deal with anxiety and to change his life and work, along with his reading methods.
Eun Hee-kyung was named author of the year. Since beginning her literary career in 1995, Eun has sharply captured the hypocrisy and self-deception embedded in human relationships, as well as the traces of an era that cut across individual inner lives. Her first full-length novel, "A Gift From a Bird," has surpassed 100 printings in cumulative editions, and this year she published "The Texture of Time," her first novel in seven years since "The Past of Light." The new work explores time inscribed on the body, aging, and a life where past and future intersect, rendered in Eun's distinctive style.
Awards for the selected books and author will be presented at the Bookstore Day ceremony on Nov. 11.
