Kim Ae-ran's New Short Story Collection Ranks High on Bestsellers List

The newly released short story collection '안녕이라 그랬어' (translated as 'I Said Goodbye') by Kim Ae-ran has quickly climbed to the second spot on the Kyobo Bookstore's comprehensive bestseller list for the third week of June 2025. This marks her first new collection in eight years since '바깥은 여름' (translated as 'The Outside is Summer').
Analyzing the sales data by gender and age, it was found that female readers in their 30s made up the largest demographic at 27.6%, followed by those in their 40s at 23%.
The collection features seven stories, including the titular piece '안녕이라 그랬어', the award-winning story '좋은 이웃' (translated as 'Good Neighbors') which won the 2022 Oh Young-soo Literary Award, and '홈파티' (translated as 'Home Party'), which received the Excellence Award at the 2022 Kim Seung-ok Literary Award.
Literary critic Shin Hyung-cheol also provides an insightful commentary, stating, "I have long believed that Kim Ae-ran is a sociologist, and now I can assert this without reservation."
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