Park Seolyeon

Park Seolyeon is a South Korean novelist known for blending speculative fiction, social commentary, and emotional realism in works that focus on marginalized voices and contemporary social issues. Born in Cheorwon, South Korea, she made her literary debut in 2015 when her short story “The Mickey Mouse Club” won the Silcheon Munhak New Writer’s Award. Her fiction frequently explores themes of gender, labor, inequality, and the experiences of women and sexual minorities.

Park gained wider recognition after winning the Hankyoreh Literature Award in 2018 for her novel Capitalists Must Starve (also translated as Kang Juryong, the Woman in the Air). She has since published novels and story collections including A Magical Girl Retires, Martha’s Job, and The Shirley Club. Her writing is noted for combining humor, fantasy, and political awareness while centering characters often excluded from mainstream narratives.

In addition to literary fiction, Park writes across genres including fantasy and speculative fiction, helping introduce contemporary Korean feminist and socially conscious storytelling to international audiences through translation. Her works have been translated into several languages, including English, French, German, and Japanese, and she continues to live and write in Seoul.