Rebecca is excited to speak with Korean Canadian author Jinwoo Park. Born and raised in Seoul, he has lived in various parts of North America and the UK since the age of 11 and is now based in Montreal.

Jinwoo obtained his bachelor’s degree from McGill in 2013, followed by a master’s in political economics from the London School of Economics in 2014, and a master’s in creative writing at the University of Oxford in 2015.

In 2021 he won the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers’ Award for his first manuscript, Oxford Soju Club, which will be published by Dundurn Press in September 2025. He has also been actively working as a literary translator after winning the Emerging Translator Award from the Literature Translation Institute of Korea in late 2023.

Jinwoo is also an avid book reviewer and is active on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

Authors and books recommended:

• Chung Serang (정세랑)
• Oh Seong-eun (오성은)
• The Hypebeast by Adnan Khan
• The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim

https://www.tiktok.com/@jinwoopark0721

https://www.instagram.com/jinwoopark0721/

https://www.youtube.com/@jinwoopark0721

https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459755109-oxford-soju-club

Welcome to the latest episode of Hidden Gems in which Rebecca and Tara invite guests to recommend authors or titles that may be new to us.

Rebecca is excited to introduce author Marion Agnew whose debut novel, Making Up the Gods, from Latitude 46 Publishing, was released in October, 2023. Kirkus Reviews calls it “A complex, heart-warming tale of love, absolution, and fortitude.”

Marion began writing creative nonfiction in the late 1990s, after her mother’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s. Her essays were collected in Reverberations: A Daughter's Meditations on Alzheimer's, published in 2019 by Signature Editions. It was shortlisted for the Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award.

A dual citizen of the US and Canada, Marion lives and writes in Shuniah, a community north of Thunder Bay, on Lake Superior, in Robinson-Superior Treaty Territory of the Anishinaabe and Métis peoples.

Rebecca interviewed Marion about Making Up the Gods on July 8, 2024.

Recommended books:

• Good to a Fault; Close to Hugh by Marina Endicott
• Lambsquarters: Scenes from a Handmade Life; Shepherd's Sight: A Farming Life by Barbara McLean
• McLean and Wils interview: https://www.tvo.org/video/barbara-mclean-with-her-husband-retired-doctor-thomas-wils
• The Lightkeeper's Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol
• We're All in This Together by Amy Jones

https://www.marionagnew.com/

https://latitude46publishing.com/

https://www.instagram.com/marionagnew/

https://www.entershinebookshop.ca/collections/all-books

Rebecca is excited to interview Canadian author Caitlin Galway on this latest episode. Caitlin is a novelist and short fiction writer whose work can be classified as literary realism, surrealism, and magical realism. A Song for Wildcats, her new short story collection published by Dundurn Press, has been named an Indigo Best Book of 2025, and was featured as a must-read in The Globe and Mail, and a most anticipated book in The Toronto Star. She has been the recipient of grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.

https://caitlingalway.wixsite.com/caitlin-l-galway

https://www.dundurn.com/authors_/t156375/p149069-caitlin-galway

https://www.instagram.com/c.l.gals/

Caitlin's books:

• A Song for Wildcats:
  • A Song for Wildcats
  • Heatstroke
  • The Islanders
  • The Wisp
  • The Lyrebird's Bell
• Bonavere Howl

Other books discussed:

• Her Body Among Animals by Paola Ferrante
• We Do Not Part by Han Kang
• Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park
• The Immortal Woman by Su Chang