Dds Umbrella

'It's tender and revealing portrait of characters on the margins.’ — Publishers Weekly

From one of Korea’s most celebrated contemporary writers, a novel about queer family-building and resistance in the aftermath of the Candlelight Revolution. 

d, a nonbinary gig worker living in Seoul, briefly escapes the grasp of isolation when they meet dd, only to be ensnared by grief when dd dies in a car accident. As d grapples with personal loss, South Korea reckons with the aftermath of the Sewol ferry disaster that claimed over 300 lives.

This formally inventive novel is composed of two novellas: the first from d’s perspective and the second from that of a writer contemplating a book they may never write. Both figures live on the margins—queer, working-class, and part of nontraditional family structures.

As protests over the Sewol ferry disaster and calls for the president’s impeachment sweep Korea, the novel explores how progressive movements often sideline women and sexual minorities in pursuit of the 'greater cause’. dd’s Umbrella is a meditative and off-centre novel about mourning and revolution.

Born in 1976, Hwang Jungeun is a leading voice in contemporary Korean literature. She has won many of Korean’s most prestigious awards, including the Daesan Literary Award, Korean Booksellers’ Award, and the Shin Dongyup Prize for Literature. Her novel One Hundred Shadows, described by Han Kang as 'unforgettable,' along with Years and Years, was published in the US in 2024. 

e. yaewon 이예원 translates from and into Korean. She has translated many prominent Korean authors into English, including 2024 Nobel laureate Han Kang, Hwang Jungeun, and Jessica Au.