Korean fantasy novel falls short at France's Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire

Korean fantasy writer Lee Young-do's epic novel "The Bird That Drinks Tears" was shortlisted among six finalists for France's Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire but lost the foreign fiction prize to French-Armenian-Australian novelist Alex Landragin's "Crossings," The Korea Times reported.

The shortlisting marks a significant moment for Korean genre fiction internationally. The four-volume series has sold more than 1 million copies in South Korea since its 2003 debut, and an English translation by Anton Hur is set to reach readers in the United States and United Kingdom in June 2026.

The Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, awarded by a jury of critics, writers and journalists, was announced at La Comedie du Livre, a prominent French literary festival, according to The Korea Times. Lee's novel competed in the foreign fiction category alongside five other finalists before the prize went to Landragin's work.

The four-volume series has accumulated more than 1 million domestic sales since its 2003 publication. The French translation, released in October 2025, sold over 20,000 copies within six months. Editions are completed or in progress in 17 languages across more than 30 countries, including Germany, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic and Ukraine, the newspaper reported.

The novel departs from Western medieval fantasy conventions by building its imagined world from Korean cultural traditions. The story weaves in dokkaebi — the trickster goblins of Korean folklore — alongside ssireum, a traditional form of wrestling, yutnori, a board game played with carved sticks, and ondol, the underfloor heating system long central to Korean domestic life.

Lee's publisher introduced him on the book's French cover as "the Korean Tolkien, finally translated," a phrase that preceded the novel's arrival in the English-speaking market. Translator Anton Hur, known for bringing multiple Korean literary works to English-speaking audiences, will release the edition in the United States and United Kingdom in June 2026, according to the Korea Times report.

A role-playing game adaptation is also in development at Krafton's studio in Montreal, expanding the property into interactive media ahead of the English release.

With the English translation due in June 2026, Lee's novel arrives in the American market with its international profile raised by the French nomination — even if the prize itself went elsewhere.