Recognizing the reality of women

So far, three of Choi's books have been published in the Chinese mainland, including a short story collection Someone Harmless to Me, and Bright Night, both of which were published by Beijing Xiron Culture Group. Another short story collection A Very Faint Light Though is going to be published later this year, also by Xiron.

Born in Gwangmyeong in Gyeonggido in 1984, Choi started writing fiction in senior middle school, but says she did not have the courage to be a professional writer until she was almost 30, when the desire to write finally overcame her fear of writing.

"Since I was young, I have often felt empty inside, but once I start writing, I feel calm and a real sense of being alive," she says.

Her novella Shoko's Smile started her writing career in 2013.

The story takes place during the era when Japanese culture was just beginning to spread to South Korea. A Japanese high school girl student named Shoko comes to South Korea and stays at a friend's house for a week, leading to incidents. Later, the two become pen pals. The theme of this novel revolves around the unstable period between adolescence and the early 20s, and the harsh reality of being unable to establish oneself in society in one's late 20s.

Choi then published a short story collection also titled Shoko's Smile: Stories.

In 2018, she published a second short story collection, Someone Harmless to Me, which won seven literary awards in South Korea. The eight short stories shine a light on people pushed to society's edges: the wife of an unjustly condemned prisoner, a student enduring domestic violence, families of shipwreck victims, and friends separated by war.

Quietly broken yet harmless, these people remain trapped in sorrow. Their hearts bear scars that cannot be erased or mended — wounds that shape their fragile humanity. Yet often, those who have harmed them are no different: ordinary people, who are just as vulnerable.

"Under what circumstances do people get hurt? In what kind of societal structures do they experience harm? How do different mindsets and personalities lead to conflict and pain? I have a strong interest in these questions. Describing the instantaneous changes in a person's inner world with delicate, sensitive, and accurate language is where my interest lies," the author says.