The Prince of Mournful Thoughts and Other Stories, Paperback

Winner of the 2020 Drue Heinz Literature Prize

Longlisted for the 2021 Pen America Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection Prize
Longlisted for the 2020 Story Prize

Exploring what it means to be human through the Korean diaspora, Caroline Kim's stories feature many voices. From a teenage girl in 1980's America, to a boy growing up in the middle of the Korean War, to an immigrant father struggling to be closer to his adult daughter, or to a suburban housewife whose equilibrium depends upon a therapy robot, each character must face their less-than-ideal circumstances and find a way to overcome them without losing themselves. Language often acts as a barrier as characters try, fail, and momentarily succeed in connecting with each other. With humor, insight, and curiosity, Kim's wide-ranging stories explore themes of culture, communication, travel, and family. Ultimately, what unites these characters across time and distance is their longing for human connection and a search for the place--or people--that will feel like home.

About author(s):

Caroline Kim was born in South Korea. She has an MFA in Poetry from the University of Michigan where she won a Hopwood Award and an MA in Fiction from the University of Texas at Austin where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. She was nominated by Jellyfish Review for the 2019 Best of the Net. She is currently a graduate student in counseling at St. Mary's College in Moraga, CA. Kim lives with her husband and three children.