SEOUL, June 17 (Korea Bizwire) – “Grass,” a South Korean graphic novel on the topic of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, received multiple nominations at a prestigious U.S. comic book industry award, according to a literary translation organization Wednesday.
The 2019 graphic novel on “comfort women” by Kim Keum-suk was nominated for best writer/artist, best reality-based work and best Asian work for this year’s Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, according to the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.
Comfort women is a euphemism for women who were forced to work in Japanese front-line brothels during World War II when Korea was a Japanese colony.
“Grass” is a semi-biographical work inspired by the experiences of survivor Lee Ok-seon, based on interviews with Lee. Winners will be announced next month after online voting by American comic book industry representatives.
Referred to as the Academy Awards of the U.S. comic industry, the annual awards were founded in 1988 to honor Will Eisner, a pioneer of the U.S. graphic novel industry.
(Yonhap)