Asian Women would like to cordially invite papers dealing with the academic issues related to Literature and Gender for the Special Issue of 2025.

  For the winter issue of Asian Women in 2025, we aim to critically illuminate the position and significance of women’s literature in Asia. The announcement of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to South Korean writer Han Kang for “her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life” elicited starkly contrasting responses in Korean society. While many viewed this prestigious recognition as a lament for countless lives affected by national violence throughout Korea's modern history, others felt discomfort and anger at the reality her literature reveals globally.

  Han Kang’s works serve as a profound encounter between the past and present, offering a poignant tribute to humanity’s beauty amidst extreme cruelty. Her novels transcend simplistic dichotomies, focusing on the voices of ‘bare/little individual lives’ that are cherished yet cruelly treated, and they gently but fiercely question the roots of irony in these experiences.

  Han Kang is the first female writer in Asia to receive the Nobel Prize, an achievement that resonates with the legacy of pioneering women writers in Western history. Her international recognition underscores the need to examine the voices of women writers in Asia, who merit greater academic attention for their artistic contributions, social awareness, and challenge to their own historical brutality. This special issue invites research papers on ‘the controversial masterpieces’ of Asian women writers, including Han Kang’s novels, and aims to promote a more comprehensive perspective on their literature. The following research topics are suggested but are not exhaustive:

Topic examples
- Open topics related to Han Kang's novels
- Historical traumas in Asian women’s literature
- Social justice and injustice in Asian women’s literature
- The interaction between past and present in Asian women’s literature
- Intergenerational dynamics in Asian women’s literature
- The roles of ‘bare/little lives’ in Asian women’s literature
- Themes of war and peace in Asian women’s literature
- The construction of nation and national identity in Asian women’s literature
- Language analysis and translation issues of Asian women’s literature

* Full papers should be submitted by August 15th, 2025 via email (asianfem2@sm.ac.kr). All papers must adhere to Asian Women’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

* The special issue will be published on December 31st, 2025. If you have any inquiries regarding your submission, please contact the managing editor. Email:asianfem2@sm.ac.kr

* For further information about the submission, please refer to the homepage:http://e-asianwomen.org