Author Lee Tae-hee. [Nexus]
Author Lee Tae-hee. [Nexus]

Lee Tae-hee's novel "A World Without Me" has been selected as the grand prize winner of the 6th Nexus Author Award.

The Nexus Author Award was renamed this year from the Nexus Short Novel Author Award and expanded in scope from short novels to full-length fiction.

The competition, held from January through March, drew more than 400 submissions. To ensure fairness, judging was conducted on a blind basis.

The winning novel follows Minjung, who loses in quick succession her six-year partner Gyeonghyeon and her three-year roommate Eunseo, then sets out to trace the marks they left behind. The book tackles the weighty theme of loss while drawing readers in through a mystery-driven narrative.

Lee Ki-ho, a professor at Gwangju University who served on the final judging panel alongside novelists Jeong Ji-a and Jo Gyeong-ran, said the work "proves that literature is still something only humans can do — and that it is being done." He added: "It was not the Nexus Author Award that discovered this writer. Perhaps it is the writer who walked to us on her own. I want to watch the direction and pace of those steps for a long time to come. That destiny is astonishing, and also wondrous."

Lee has entered a literary competition every year without fail since her first attempt in 2015, submitting to rookie awards and spring literary contests alike. She reached the final round more than 10 times over that span, only to fall short each time. "Honestly, if I had known it would take 10 years, I might have given up long ago," she said. "I'm glad I did not know when I started. It feels like I have written a 10-year novel that ends with the line, 'And that is how she published her first book.'"

"A World Without Me" will be published Wednesday under Nexus's literary brand And.


pink@heraldcorp.com