Early years

Gong Ji-young (born 31 January 1963) is a South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

n and one of the most popular of the 'new wave' of female writers who shattered the South Korean literary establishment's glass ceiling in the 1980s and 1990s. As a teen, Gong self-published her own stories and poems, before the student movement in the 1980s gave her a sense of mission that focused her talents. Her short-novel, Rising Dawn, was a direct result of her involvement in the student and labor movements of that era. In 1985 Gong received her B.A. in Literature from Yonsei University

Yonsei University

Yonsei University is a Christian private research university, located in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1885, it is one of the oldest universities in South Korea, the top private comprehensive universities in South Korea, and is widely regarded as one of the top three comprehensive...

. Gong has been married and divorced three times and has three children.


She began to write in 1988. Gong has a always focused tightly on issues surrounding women, laborers, the underprivileged, and those who are discriminated against. In 2009 she published The Crucible

The Crucible (novel)

The Crucible is a 2009 novel by Gong Ji-Young a well known South Korean novelist, based on an actual case of mass sexual abuse at a school for the deaf in Gwangju Inhwa, South Korea. The title was taken from Arthur Miller's eponymous play....

 which had a substantial impact on Korean society and law with respect to the rights of the handicapped. The book was also made into a movie titled Dogani (도가니; The Crucible) in Korean, and when that movie became a major hit, members of the Korean political party the GNP pressed for an investigation of Gong based on her engagement in "political activities."


Gong was also, along with Korean writers Lee Ki-ho and Ham Min-bok, an early adopter of the internet. When she began to publish The Crucible, she first published it on Korean internet portal Daum

Daum

Daum is a web portal in South Korea, like Naver and Nate. Daum offers many Internet services to web users, including a popular free web-based e-mail, messaging service, forums, shopping and news. The word "daum" means "next" in Korean....

 on November 7th, 2008, and left the work up for six months. This kind of serial writing is common in Korea, but it is traditionally done in newspapers.

Work

Gong was interested in literature form an early age, and while still a teenager, self-published her own stories and poems. Gong continued her literary interests by attending graduate school in literature. It was here, in the 1980's that she came into contact with the student movement and it was from this experience that Gong drew her sense of purpose. Her first novel was Daybreak or "Rising Dawn" which was the outcome of her work in the student movement and with the labor movement In 1995, Gong's novel Go Alone Like the Rhinoceros' Horn was made into a feature film.
Her novel Maundy Thursday (Our Happy Time) was adapted into a movie (Urideurui haengbokhan sigan

Maundy Thursday (film)

Maundy Thursday is a 2006 South Korean film directed by Song Hae-seong, and based on a best-selling novel by Gong Ji-young. Starring Kang Dong-won and Lee Na-young, the film is about a convicted murderer awaiting execution, and the bond he forms with a suicidal young woman who starts visiting him...

) in 2006.

Her novel The Crucible was adapted into a movie The Crucible

The Crucible (2011 film)

The Crucible is a South Korean film based on the novel of the same name by Gong Ji-young, starring Gong Yoo and Jung Yoo Mi. It is based on a true story of mass sexual abuse of Deaf students at Gwangju Inhwa School, Gwangju in the early 2000's...

 (Hangul: 도가니; RR: Dogani.)


Gong has received several awards for her work:

2001 - 7th 21 Century Literary Award

2001 - 27th Korean Novel and Literature Award from Korea Novelist Association

2004 - 12th Oh Young-soo Literature Award

2006 - 9th Special Media Award from Amnesty International

Works in English

Human Decency (Jimoondang)


My Sister, Bong Soon

Works in Korean

1993 - Go Alone Like a Rhino Horn

1994 - Mackerel

2002 - My Sister Bongsoon

1999 - Crying Existence

2000 - Who We Are, Where We Are From, Where We Are Going? (received 7th 21 Century Literary Award in 2001)

2005 - Films of My Life

2005 - Maundy Thursday ("Our Happy Time")

2006 - I Was Alone Like a Raindrop

2006 - The Unhurt Soul

2009 - People in the Bible for Children
2009 - The Crucible

The Crucible (novel)

The Crucible is a 2009 novel by Gong Ji-Young a well known South Korean novelist, based on an actual case of mass sexual abuse at a school for the deaf in Gwangju Inhwa, South Korea. The title was taken from Arthur Miller's eponymous play....

Controversy

The member of the Grand National Party

Grand National Party

The Grand National Party is a conservative political party in South Korea. Its Korean name, Hannara, has a double meaning as "Great National" and "Korean National." The GNP holds a majority of seats in the 18th Assembly, lasting from 2008 to 2012....

Human Rights Commission, Kim Yeon-ho, proposed to investigate Gong for her verbose depiction of her novel, and later movie, Dogani, that over-intimidated citizens. Gong later mocked Kim Yeon-ho's remark by expressing a humorous gratitude "thank you, Grand National Party, for making me internationally famous" on her Twitter account.