Photo: Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (left) with Lee Ok-sun (center), whose life served as a basis for Grass. Credit: Korea.net
At the New York Comic-con on October 9, Grass 풀 by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim won the Harvey Award for Best International Book. The Harvey Award is considered the top award of the industry, comparable to the Academy Awards for the movies. Grass is based on the true story of former Comfort Woman and activist Lee Ok-seon 이옥선, who was conscripted into military sexual slavery when she was 15 years old, and left for dead in Manchuria at the war’s end.
Gendry-Kim is also known for the graphic novel version of Jiseul 지슬, a movie about the April 3 Jeju Massacre 제주 4.3 사건 in 1948-49 that won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2013.