The Red Years

Name: The Red Years
Brand: Allen & Unwin
SKU: 9781786996602
Price: 29.99 NZD
Availability: InStock

Forbidden Poems from Inside North Korea

By Bandi

Summary

The Red Years is the first English-language collection of poetry by Bandi, a North Korean dissident writing secretly within the country. His 51 poems offer a rare and poignant glimpse into day-to-day life and survival under the brutal regimes of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, revealing the endurance of the human spirit amid repression.
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Format: Paperback / softback

$29⁹⁹

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The Red Years

$29⁹⁹

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Readers interested in poetry, dissident voices, and life under totalitarian regimes will find this collection compelling. It suits those who appreciate political and human rights literature and have an interest in North Korean culture and contemporary history.

Authored by one of North Korea’s most acclaimed dissident writers, this is the first collection of Bandi’s poetry to be published in English.

Authored by one of North Korea’s most acclaimed dissident writers, this is the first collection of Bandi’s poetry to be published in English.

Description

Though North Korea holds the attention of the world, it is still rare for us to hear North Korean voices, beyond those few who have escaped. Known only by his pen name, the poet and author ‘Bandi’ stands as one of the most distinctive and original dissident writers to emerge from the country. His work is all the more striking for the fact that he continues to reside in North Korea, writing in secret, with his work smuggled out of the country by supporters and relatives.

The Red Years represents the first collection of Bandi’s poetry to be made available in English. As he did in his first work The Accusation, Bandi gives us a rare glimpse into everyday life and survival in North Korea. Singularly poignant and evocative, The Red Years stands as a testament to the power of the human spirit to endure and resist even the most repressive of regimes.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Katie Law of the Evening Standard highlights the extraordinary risks Bandi took to smuggle his stark and often bleak poetry out of North Korea. NK News praises the poems for depicting communal solidarity resisting propaganda, while prior reviews for Bandi's earlier work, The Accusation, commend his powerful, direct, and uncompromising storytelling from behind North Korea's walls. The collection is recognised as a courageous and vital testimony from a voiceless author.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781786996602

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 August 2019

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Zed Books Ltd

Contributors:

Translated by Heinz Insu Fenkl

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 8.0mm

Width: 124.0mm

Height: 194.0mm

Weight: 100g

Pages: 96

Collections

Arts & Culture Bandi Non-Fiction Poetry

About the Author

The author and poet known only as ‘Bandi’ (a pseudonym meaning ‘firefly’) spent his childhood in China before returning to North Korea, the country of his birth, as a young man. Initially writing for North Korean magazines, the focus of Bandi’s writing changed forever after the deaths of many people close to him during the great famine of the 1990s. The experiences of this time made him resolve to share with the outside world a true likeness of the harsh North Korean society as he himself saw it. With the help of a relative, he was able to smuggle a collection of his poems and stories to South Korea. The first part of this manuscript achieved international acclaim when it was published as the short story collection The Accusation: Forbidden Stories From Inside North Korea (2018).