We’re very excited to introduce our next book! What we learned about Korea’s symbolic animals while researching 100 Thimbles in a Box inspired us to feature them in a series of children’s stories we are calling the Ginkgo Tree Tales. Illustrated by the gifted Korean artist, Lee, Woong Ki, these are not retellings of traditional folktales,…
As someone who has had a love affair going on with South Korea for the past 32 years, when I recently heard President Moon Jae-in call this winter’s Olympic Games the “Peace Olympics,” one of my grandmother’s favorite expressions came to mind: “From your lips to God’s ears.” The image of his words floating skyward…
2018 is the Year of the Dog, one of my favorite zodiac animals. It’s certainly higher on my list than the snake or the rat (a small relative of which is currently having a grand old time behind my refrigerator in spite of my best attempts to convince him to move on.) According to the…
Several times a year Seoul’s palaces are open to visitors at night. Tickets sell out quickly, but it is worth the effort to try and see these beautifully lit buildings after dark. During the evening openings, visitors are entertained by traditional Korean music and dance performances — always a treat, but especially so with a…
Each time we visit Seoul, we are struck by the number of grinning faces we are met with. Plenty of those are of the human variety, because Koreans are, after all, a very friendly people. But take the people out of the equation, and there’s still lots of grinning going on — on sculptures, paintings, signs, door…
One of the things that I have enjoyed most about researching and writing this book is the discovery of art forms we were previously unfamiliar with. The more we learned about some of them, the more we grew to like them. One of those, which has become one of our favorites, is girokhwa, or documentary…
Joan loves dirt. She’s an avid gardener and potter, both of which require getting your hands into the stuff, and nothing makes her happier. So, not surprisingly, some of her favorite Korean handicrafts are those made from dirt, or what used to be dirt. She can stand forever, lovingly caressing a simple round pottery…
On one of my first trips to Korea, I came across some carved and painted figures in an antique shop in Insadong that I found to be pretty wonderful. I didn’t know what they were and the shop owner spoke no English so I didn’t ask. But it didn’t matter. They were charming and I…
I love animals. Nearly all of them, with the exception of the annoying insects (mosquitos, flies, and gnats, I’m talking about you), rats and some snakes. I even like what’s been voted the world’s ugliest animal – the unfortunate blobfish. You can’t hate something that has to go through life looking like that. It wouldn’t be…
Those of you who don’t know us — and maybe even more, those of you who do — may be wondering how two not-so-young Caucasian women became experts enough in the subject of Korean handicrafts to write a book about it. And then to get someone, other than ourselves, to publish it. And a very…