Translated by Shanna Tan
Yeonnam-Dong's Smiley Laundromat is a place where the extraordinary stories of ordinary residents unfold. Situated at the heart of rapidly gentrifying district of Seoul, it's a haven of peace and reflection for many locals.
And when a notebook is left behind there, it becomes a place that brings people together. One by one, customers start jotting down candid diary entries, opening their hearts and inviting acts of kindness from neighbours who were once just faces in the crowd.
But there is a darker story behind the notebook, and before long the laundromat's regulars are teaming up to solve the mystery and put the world to rights.
Instantly capturing the hearts of Korean readers, this is a novel about the preciousness of human relationships and the power of solidarity in a world that is increasingly cold, fast-paced, and virtual.
Yeonnam-dong's Smiley Laundromat by Kim Jiyun (Hardback)
Kim Ji Yoon was born in 1992 and raised in Seoul. She studied at Dankook University, majoring in creative writing for four years. She also attended the Korean Broadcasting Writers’ Association training centre to learn how to write for screen, and later completed a drama course. One day, while walking down the noisy streets of Hongdae at night, she suddenly saw a laundromat with soft yellow lights on, and that gave her the first sentence of Yeonnam-dong’s Smiley Laundromat, her first novel. She now writes full time.
Shanna Tan is a literary translator working from Korean, Chinese and Japanese into English. She was selected for the 2021/22 National Centre for Writing Emerging Translator Mentorship programme (mentored by Anton Hur for Korean prose) and the 2022 American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) Emerging Translator Mentorship programme (mentored by Julia Sanches for literature from Singapore). She is the translator of the bestselling Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum (Bloomsbury, 2023). Her forthcoming work include several popular Korean fiction titles and a creative non-fiction Singaporean Chinese work. Publishers she is working with include Doubleday, MacLehose Press and more. She is based in Singapore.