Anton Hur on Your Utopia by Bora Chung

In this episode, translator and debut novelist Anton Hur discusses his English translation of Your Utopia (Algonquin Books, 2024), a fantastical and moving collection by South Korean author Bora Chung. From reordering stories to recharging sad robots, Anton shares his journey with Chung’s genre-bending work—and how a casual pitch at a book fair eventually led to Chung’s name on literary longlists. We discuss topics ranging from zombies in space and sentient elevators to the question of whether balancing the beautiful and the faithful in translation is a trade-off or a tandem act. We also hear how Anton navigates the push-pull between the solitary act of translating-writing and the collaborative dynamic of publishing. Along the way, Anton reflects on authorial paratexts, deadpan satire, and the ever-tricky desire to “make English pop.”