Bora Chung moves to Dialogue with new novel, The Midnight Timetable

Dialogue Books has landed the new novel from Bora Chung, the National Book Award finalist and International Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Cursed Bunny and Your Utopia (both published by Honford Star). 

Editorial director Hannah Chukwu acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to The Midnight Timetable from Kendra Poster at Algonquin. Madeline Jones at Algonquin acquired world English rights from Jinhee Park at Greenbook Literary Agency, and rights have also gone to Marika Webb-Pullman at Scribe ANZ. 

The Midnight Timetable, translated by Anton Hur, is billed as “a chilling novel-in-stories narrated by a night shift worker at a mysterious research centre, where deeply unsettling encounters ensue with the cursed objects studied there – the manifestations of their owners’ dread, guilt, and past mistakes that become living nightmares”. The publisher said: “The combination of wit and playfulness alongside the incredibly sharp social critiques is intoxicating”. It is scheduled to be published in autumn 2025. 

Chukwu said: “Bora’s work has blown me away. This book made me feel excited about what fiction can do – her writing is sharp, and stylistically and formally exciting. I am also a long-time fan of Anton Hur’s work, and am so delighted that this project is the product of such a talented partnership. We are honoured to be publishing The Midnight Timetable at Dialogue Books in the UK.” 

Chung added: “I loved writing The Midnight Timetable. I tried to depict what it feels to be broken and marginalised but still fight to survive. I know a lot of such people and I wish all the best for them, always. And I had a lot of fun writing the scary parts too. I hope my readers enjoy it as much.”