{"id":5886,"date":"2003-02-01T23:23:22","date_gmt":"2003-02-02T03:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=5886"},"modified":"2015-08-17T10:37:26","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T14:37:26","slug":"the-interpreter-by-suki-kim-author-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-interpreter-by-suki-kim-author-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"The Interpreter by Suki Kim + Author Profile [in KoreAm Journal]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Interpreter\"<\/a>Interpreting the Immigrant’s Life: Urban girl Suki Kim makes her literary debut<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEW YORK CITY \u2014 Suki Kim has a fantasy about \u201cmeeting all the many Asian Americans across the country.\u201d She\u2019s heard rumors that there are Asian Americans in almost every corner of the United States \u2014 \u201ceven in Idaho!\u201d she says with a laugh \u2014 but she wants to see for herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be really fascinating to go to those places and have dialogues. I hear that they\u2019re everywhere,\u201d Kim says. This from an urban girl who explains that she\u2019s hard-pressed to even see a Caucasian\u00a0on her block in her diverse Manhattan neighborhood.<\/p>\n

That chance to travel is happening now with the publication of her debut novel, The Interpreter<\/em> (published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux), about a young Korean American woman, Suzy Park, living in New York City and searching for answers as to why her shopkeeper parents were brutally murdered. \u201cI somehow think that this book might do really well with college students \u2014 it has that edge to it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Manil Suri, author of the luminous bestseller The Death of Vishnu<\/em>, thinks it should do well with anyone and everyone. \u201cHere is a story about Korean immigrants told in a voice that refuses to be typecast as \u2018Asian American Writing In Capital Letters.\u2019 It is noir-ish more than anything else. Simply because that is what this story, which builds up suspense in subtle yet deft ways, demands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Kim\u2019s novel is hardly just another immigrant story. It\u2019s not autobiographical for the most part, Kim says, although, like her protagonist Suzy Park, Kim spent time working in New York as an interpreter. However, Kim admits, \u201cThere must be some of me in Suzy Park, for sure, as well as in some other characters. You do have to start from somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim takes seeds from her own experiences and then gives the story a life of its own. \u201cYou take a thread of something you might have seen or experienced, and start weaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s own life has been a series of interwoven cultures, languages, and identities. Born in Seoul, Kim arrived in New York at the age of 13 with her parents and two siblings. While her parents worked endless hours in Korean-owned delis, Kim taught herself English by reading constantly \u2014 with her trusty Korean\/English dictionary in hand. She graduated from Barnard College, with a\u00a0 major in English and a minor in East Asian Literature. She headed to London immediately after graduation, where she mixed academia with bartending at one of London\u2019s premiere fringe theaters. …[click here for more<\/a>]\n

Author profile<\/strong>: “Interpreting the Immigrant’s Life: Urban girl Suki Kim makes her literary debut,” KoreAm Journal<\/em>, February 2003<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2003<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Interpreter\"Interpreting the Immigrant’s Life: Urban girl Suki Kim makes her literary debut<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEW YORK CITY \u2014 Suki Kim has a fantasy about \u201cmeeting all the many Asian Americans across the country.\u201d She\u2019s heard rumors that there are Asian Americans in almost every corner of the United States \u2014 \u201ceven in Idaho!\u201d she says with a laugh \u2014 but she wants to see for herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be really fascinating to go to those places and have dialogues. I hear that they\u2019re everywhere,\u201d Kim says. This from an urban girl who explains that she\u2019s hard-pressed to even see a Caucasian on her block in her diverse Manhattan neighborhood.<\/p>\n

That chance to travel is happening now with the publication of her debut novel, The Interpreter<\/em> (published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux), about a young Korean American woman, Suzy Park, living in New York City and searching for answers as to why her shopkeeper parents were brutally murdered. \u201cI somehow think that this book might do really well with college students \u2014 it has that edge to it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Manil Suri, author of the luminous bestseller The Death of Vishnu<\/em>, thinks it should do well with anyone and everyone. \u201cHere is a story about Korean immigrants told in a voice that refuses to be typecast as \u2018Asian American Writing In Capital Letters.\u2019 It is noir-ish more than anything else. Simply because that is what this story, which builds up suspense in subtle yet deft ways, demands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Kim\u2019s novel is hardly just another immigrant story. It\u2019s not autobiographical for the most part, Kim says, although, like her protagonist Suzy Park, Kim spent time working in New York as an interpreter. However, Kim admits, \u201cThere must be some of me in Suzy Park, for sure, as well as in some other characters. You do have to start from somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim takes seeds from her own experiences and then gives the story a life of its own. \u201cYou take a thread of something you might have seen or experienced, and start weaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s own life has been a series of interwoven cultures, languages, and identities. Born in Seoul, Kim arrived in New York at the age of 13 with her parents and two siblings. While her parents worked endless hours in Korean-owned delis, Kim taught herself English by reading constantly \u2014 with her trusty Korean\/English dictionary in hand. She graduated from Barnard College, with a major in English and a minor in East Asian Literature. She headed to London immediately after graduation, where she mixed academia with bartending at one of London\u2019s premiere fringe theaters. …[click here for more<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Author profile<\/strong>: “Interpreting the Immigrant’s Life: Urban girl Suki Kim makes her literary debut,” KoreAm Journal<\/em>, February 2003<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2003<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,6,38,6535],"tags":[83,6608,58,75,10,51,25,4134,4327,39,4135],"class_list":["post-5886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-author-interview-profile","category-fiction","category-korean-american","category-repost","tag-assimilation","tag-bookdragon","tag-coming-of-age","tag-death","tag-family","tag-identity","tag-immigration","tag-interpreter","tag-koream-journal","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-suki-kim"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Interpreter by Suki Kim + Author Profile [in KoreAm Journal] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-interpreter-by-suki-kim-author-profile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Interpreter by Suki Kim + Author Profile [in KoreAm Journal] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interpreting the Immigrant's Life: Urban girl Suki Kim makes her literary debut NEW YORK CITY \u2014 Suki Kim has a fantasy about \u201cmeeting all the many Asian Americans across the country.\u201d She\u2019s heard rumors that there are Asian Americans in almost every corner of the United States \u2014 \u201ceven in Idaho!\u201d she says with a laugh \u2014 but she wants to see for herself. \u201cI think it would be really fascinating to go to those places and have dialogues. I hear that they\u2019re everywhere,\u201d Kim says. This from an urban girl who explains that she\u2019s hard-pressed to even see a Caucasian on her block in her diverse Manhattan neighborhood. That chance to travel is happening now with the publication of her debut novel, The Interpreter (published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux), about a young Korean American woman, Suzy Park, living in New York City and searching for answers as to why her shopkeeper parents were brutally murdered. \u201cI somehow think that this book might do really well with college students \u2014 it has that edge to it,\u201d she says. Manil Suri, author of the luminous bestseller The Death of Vishnu, thinks it should do well with anyone and everyone. \u201cHere is a story about Korean immigrants told in a voice that refuses to be typecast as \u2018Asian American Writing In Capital Letters.\u2019 It is noir-ish more than anything else. Simply because that is what this story, which builds up suspense in subtle yet deft ways, demands.\u201d Indeed, Kim\u2019s novel is hardly just another immigrant story. It\u2019s not autobiographical for the most part, Kim says, although, like her protagonist Suzy Park, Kim spent time working in New York as an interpreter. However, Kim admits, \u201cThere must be some of me in Suzy Park, for sure, as well as in some other characters. You do have to start from somewhere.\u201d Kim takes seeds from her own experiences and then gives the story a life of its own. \u201cYou take a thread of something you might have seen or experienced, and start weaving.\u201d Kim\u2019s own life has been a series of interwoven cultures, languages, and identities. Born in Seoul, Kim arrived in New York at the age of 13 with her parents and two siblings. While her parents worked endless hours in Korean-owned delis, Kim taught herself English by reading constantly \u2014 with her trusty Korean\/English dictionary in hand. She graduated from Barnard College, with a major in English and a minor in East Asian Literature. She headed to London immediately after graduation, where she mixed academia with bartending at one of London\u2019s premiere fringe theaters. ...[click here for more] Author profile: "Interpreting the Immigrant's Life: Urban girl Suki Kim makes her literary debut," KoreAm Journal, February 2003 Readers: Adult Published: 2003\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-interpreter-by-suki-kim-author-profile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2003-02-02T03:23:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-08-17T14:37:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2003\/02\/Interpreter.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"648\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmithsonianAPA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Interpreter by Suki Kim + Author Profile [in KoreAm Journal] - BookDragon","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-interpreter-by-suki-kim-author-profile\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Interpreter by Suki Kim + Author Profile [in KoreAm Journal] - BookDragon","og_description":"Interpreting the Immigrant's Life: Urban girl Suki Kim makes her literary debut NEW YORK CITY \u2014 Suki Kim has a fantasy about \u201cmeeting all the many Asian Americans across the country.\u201d She\u2019s heard rumors that there are Asian Americans in almost every corner of the United States \u2014 \u201ceven in Idaho!\u201d she says with a laugh \u2014 but she wants to see for herself. \u201cI think it would be really fascinating to go to those places and have dialogues. I hear that they\u2019re everywhere,\u201d Kim says. This from an urban girl who explains that she\u2019s hard-pressed to even see a Caucasian on her block in her diverse Manhattan neighborhood. That chance to travel is happening now with the publication of her debut novel, The Interpreter (published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux), about a young Korean American woman, Suzy Park, living in New York City and searching for answers as to why her shopkeeper parents were brutally murdered. \u201cI somehow think that this book might do really well with college students \u2014 it has that edge to it,\u201d she says. Manil Suri, author of the luminous bestseller The Death of Vishnu, thinks it should do well with anyone and everyone. \u201cHere is a story about Korean immigrants told in a voice that refuses to be typecast as \u2018Asian American Writing In Capital Letters.\u2019 It is noir-ish more than anything else. Simply because that is what this story, which builds up suspense in subtle yet deft ways, demands.\u201d Indeed, Kim\u2019s novel is hardly just another immigrant story. It\u2019s not autobiographical for the most part, Kim says, although, like her protagonist Suzy Park, Kim spent time working in New York as an interpreter. However, Kim admits, \u201cThere must be some of me in Suzy Park, for sure, as well as in some other characters. You do have to start from somewhere.\u201d Kim takes seeds from her own experiences and then gives the story a life of its own. \u201cYou take a thread of something you might have seen or experienced, and start weaving.\u201d Kim\u2019s own life has been a series of interwoven cultures, languages, and identities. Born in Seoul, Kim arrived in New York at the age of 13 with her parents and two siblings. 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