| Jeong Do-sang | |
| Birth Date: | 3 January 1960 |
| Birth Place: | Hamyang County, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea |
| Language: | Korean |
| Nationality: | South Korean |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul: | 정도상 |
| Rr: | Jeong Dosang |
| Mr: | Chŏng Tosang |
Jeong Do-sang (; born January 3, 1960) is a South Korean novelist and children's author. Jeong debuted as a writer in 1987 with the short story "Our Winter." He has written collections such as (Even though my friend went far), (Spring at Silsangsa Temple), (The Woman at the Moran Market), and (Brier Rose). He has also written the novels (Faint Hope), (The Camel), (The Ginkgo Tree Boy), as well as the children’s novel (Pachino the Dolphin).
Jeong won the 17th Danjae Literary Award for Faint Hope, the 25th Yosan Literary Prize for Brier Rose, and the 7th Beautiful Writer’s Award.[1]
Jeong Do-sang was born on January 3, 1960 in Macheon-myeon, Hamyang County, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. His father died when he was six. He moved to Seoul in 1971 and pursued studies while he worked various jobs such as a street peddler selling chewing gum, a newspaper boy, and taking on manual labor. He enrolled at the Department of German Language and Literature at Jeonbuk National University in 1981.
Jeong was imprisoned for his role in the Protest Against the Construction of the Peace Dam in 1986. In 1987, while serving his sentence in Jeonju Prison, he decided to begin writing. When he was released from prison, he worked at apartment construction sites while writing. Jeong won the Chonnam National University’s May Literature Award for his short story Our Winter (우리들의 겨울). Afterwards, he actively pursued his career as a writer.
In 2005, Jeong's fifteen-year-old son committed suicide. His son's suicide gave Jeong Do-sang great shock, and caused a literary change within him. These experiences were presumably deeply related to his later constant interest in the youth problem as well as his publication of young adult novels and children's books.[2]
As a Realist writer, Jeong lays out themes based on life experiences in his writing. His early works have realistic insights into how the state uses its great authority to destroy the lives of individuals. Particularly, in Chinguneun meolli gatsseodo (친구는 멀리 갔어도 Even though my friend went far), he portrays how a soldier that accidentally kills a superior officer becomes involved in a fabricated defection to North Korea, as well as a reforestation project. Jeong also realistically portrays violence within the military, making it an early representative work that widely spread his name among readers.
In terms of works after the 2000s, Jeong focused his literary interest on nomadism and the problem of refugees. Brier Rose (찔레꽃), a serialized novel, is about North Korean defectors and their journey, telling the process of escape and settlement. It realistically portrays the issue of division concerning South Korean society.[3]
In the 2010 novel Nakta (낙타 The Camel), Jeong portrays the inner side of a protagonist. The protagonist faces inner loneliness via a journey through the Gobi Desert with his son, who passed away with only a short note. Nakta (낙타 The Camel) portrays how such scars of the protagonist are healed through friendships made with many people he meets during his travel.
Short Story Collections
Novels
Children's Novels