W F Howes signs Hwang Sok-yong’s Booker-shortlisted Mater 2-10

Audiobook publisher W F Howes has signed Hwang Sok-yong’s International Booker Prize shortlisted Mater 2-10. 

Acquisitions editor Kay Farrell acquired UK and Commonwealth audio rights from Laura Susijn at The Susijn Agency. The audio edition of Mater 2-10 will be published in July 2024. 

“Hwang Sok-yong has achieved something rare here – a novel that reflects the lives of modern industrial workers, presenting their roots through lives spanning over a hundred years and bringing those characters, often missing from our literary history, to the fore,” said Susijn. “The culmination of his life’s work, it showcases Hwang at his best: bridging political struggle with thoroughly engaging literature.”

Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize this year, Mater 2-10 “vividly depicts the lives of ordinary working Koreans”. Beginning in the Japanese colonial era, moving through liberation to the 21st century, the story is a multigenerational tale told through three generations of a family of rail workers and a laid-off factory worker. 

Farrell commented: “Hwang is one of the most prominent literary voices of his generation, who is undoubtedly worthy of all the praise he receives, both in his native South Korea and abroad. A novel that was 30 years in the making, Mater 2-10 is an absolute triumph, and the perfect culmination of Hwang’s illustrious writing career.”