Joo Won-gyu

Joo Won-gyu
Born1975 (age 50–51)
Seoul, South Korea
EducationChongshin College and Theological Seminary (M.div.equ)
Graduate School Theological Seminary of Gangseo University (Th.M)
Occupations
  • Pastor
  • Novelist
  • Scriptwriter
Years active2001–present
EmployerDongseo Malseum Church
AgentWriter of Finecut (WAF)
Awards14th Hankyoreh Literary Award for 'A Cruel History of an Outsider Race'
Korean name
Hangul
주원규
RRJu Wongyu
MRChu Wŏn'gyu

Joo Won-gyu (Korean: 주원규; born 1975) is a South Korean novelist, screenwriter, and pastor.

He serves as the director of the Institute for Shared Culture, focusing on everyday art, cultural discoveries, and small-group Bible studies. Best known for his socially conscious fiction and crime dramas, Joo won the 14th Hankyoreh Literary Award for his novel A Cruel History of an Outsider Race. His other notable novels include Bad God, The Watchtower, Anti-Human Declaration, and A Christmas Carol, alongside youth fiction such as Hideout. His non-fiction works span essays, cultural criticism—such as Sanctuary and Babel—and theological studies, including translating The Talmud closest to the original source as a researcher of Jewish texts.

As a screenwriter, he wrote the 2017 tvN drama series Argon and Disney+ Gangnam B-Side. Since 2017, he has been represented by the writer's agency Writer of Finecut (WAF).

Early life

Joo was born in 1975 in Seoul to a devout Buddhist mother, though he converted to Christianity during his third year of elementary school. His adolescence involved significant turbulence. During middle school, he became a target of school bullies and was forced into the role of a "bread shuttle." To protect himself, he aligned with a group of delinquents and became a subordinate to the school gang leader. His teenage years involved frequent disciplinary issues, to the point where school authorities ultimately recommended that he drop out.[1]

His entry into literature began modestly. Joo began writing novels at age eighteen in high school, receiving encouraging feedback from peers that inspired him to continue. Despite this early passion, he initially pursued a technical path, enrolling in engineering school. However, he felt continually drawn back to writing by a persistent personal momentum.[1]

Joo majored in electrical engineering at Seoul National University of Science and Technology.[2] He spent his time isolating himself in the library to read books outside his major, eventually dropping out because the field did not align with his goals.[1] After attending three or four different theological colleges, he completed his studies at a seminary affiliated with the General Assembly and was ordained as a minister in March 2009. He eventually settled into ministry, serving as a pastor who runs an alternative church..[2][3]

In 2003, one of his short stories won the New Year Literary Contest held by the Gwangju Daily News, though he maintained an independent path without formal ties to the literary establishment. He later published System, a political thriller novel centered around the internet.[3]

Career

As writer

Joo Won-kyu won the 14th Hankyoreh Literary Award in 2009 for his novel A Cruel History of an Outsider Race, beating 211 competitors. From the preliminary judging stages, the work received praise for its bold settings, compelling characters, and provocative themes. The judges noted that Joo appeared to operate outside the traditional university creative writing establishment. While they identified flaws such as rough prose and structural echoes of films and video games, they concluded these did not diminish his narrative competence or the raw energy of the book, prompting the panel to remark, "I wonder who this person is."[3]

"The simultaneous eruption events in the cross-sections of life are converging into dark sketches of our society. The inexorable style and youthful imagination are creating a new form of 'totality'."

— Hwang Kwang-soo, a literary critic, about novel 'A Cruel History of an Outsider Race', Khan Newspaper[4]

That same year, Joo was ordained as a minister and founded a church, beginning a tenure in pastoral leadership that lasted seven years. Following his literary debut, he maintained a prolific output across multiple genres, including full-length novels, cultural criticism, autobiographies, interviews, youth novels, and fairy tales, publishing more than twenty books. Drawing on his academic background in engineering, he has also occasionally worked as an electrician.[1]

In 2012, following the unexpected death of his wife, Joo began ministering to out-of-school youth in shelters and correctional facilities. His wife had dedicated herself to supporting runaway youth prior to their marriage, and after her passing, he chose to honor and continue her legacy.[5]

In 2015, after losing contact with twenty runaway teenagers he had previously counseled, Joo tracked them to a nightclub district in Gangnam. To locate them, he spent six months working undercover inside a Gangnam club, eventually reconnecting with most of the youths. He discovered that many of the young men were working as guards or hosts, while most of the young women were trapped in prostitution. Despite his intervention, he was unable to convince them to leave.[5] Joo concluded his undercover operation after six months, grappling with a sense of failure for not being able to reintegrate the teenagers into mainstream society. Exposed to daily criminality, he began to feel psychologically compromised by the environment and concluded he had to leave immediately. On February 28, he published an account of his experiences in the novel Made in Gangnam, released by Neofiction.[5]

As screenwriter

In 2017, Joo co-wrote the tvN journalism drama Argon alongside Jeon Young-shin and Shin Ha-eun. Directed by Lee Yoon-jung and starring Kim Joo-hyuk and Chun Woo-hee, the series follows investigative reporters striving to uncover the truth through verifiable facts in a media landscape saturated with misinformation.[6] Since 2017, Joo has been represented by the writer's agency Writer of Finecut (WAF).[7]

On December 7, 2022, at the Yong Film Night event, it was announced that veteran director Kim Jee-woon and director Park Bo-ram would co-direct an OTT series tentatively titled Mangnaein, adapted from the crime novel Second Sister by Hong Kong author Chan Ho-kei. The series is produced by Yong Film in collaboration with Anthology Studio and SK Global. In 2023, Joo announced via social media that he serves as the screenwriter for the adaptation.[8]

Bibliography

Novel

Year Title Publisher Published Date ISBN Ref.
English Korean
2009 System 시스템 Lightning Rod Books 2009-04-10 978-8-9927-2341-1 [3]
A Cruel History of an Outsider Race 열외인종 잔혹사 Hankyoreh Publishing House 2009-07-15 978-8-9843-1341-5 [9]
2010 Invincible bad baseball team 천하무적 불량야구단 Saeum 2010-01-15 978-8-9939-6406-6 [10]
The Watchtower 망루 Literature of Literature 2010-07-31 978-8-9431-0369-9 [11]
2011 The Palace of Fire 불의 궁전 2011-12-08 978-8-9431-0387-3 [12]
2012 Anti-human Declaration 반인간선언 Consonants and Vowels 2012-01-03 978-8-9570-7623-1 [13]
2015 Door of Memory 기억의 문 Hankyoreh Publishing House 2015.03.16. 978-8-9843-1886-1 [14]
2016 Christmas Carol 크리스마스 캐럴 Consonants and Vowels 2016-12-20 978-8-9544-3701-1 [15]
2017 Saimdang, Drawing Longing 사임당, 그리움을 그리다 Humanities Academy 2017-01-25 979-1-1865-4228-6 [16]
Bad God 나쁜 하나님 New 2017-09-20 979-1-1871-9257-2 [17]
2019 Made in Gangnam 메이드 인 강남 Neofiction 2019-02-25 978-8-9544-3972-5 [18]
One Kiss Missing 한 개 모자란 키스 Seo Yoojae 2019-10-30 979-1-1890-3422-1 [19]
Anti-human Declaration 반인간선언(증오하는 인간) Consonants and Vowels 2019-11-07 979-1-1888-5050-1 [20]
2020 Persons subject to special management 특별관리대상자 Hankyoreh Publishing House 2020-02-26 979-1-1604-0362-6 [21]
2021 To people who don't know me 나를 모르는 사람들에게 2021-06-10 979-1-1604-0604-7 [22]
2022 Seocho-dong League 서초동 리그 Neofiction 2022-01-25 978-8-9544-4801-7 [23]
2023 Naked Body 벗은 몸 Floating 2023-03-10 979-1-1979-2431-6 [24]

Audio books

Year Title Producer Publication Date Ref.
English Korean
2021 Talmud: Today, like the first day, like the last day 탈무드: 오늘 하루 첫 번째 날처럼 마지막 날처럼 Mari Books 2021-08-02

Filmography

Film

Film credit
Year Title Credited as Ref.
English Korean Original Writer Screenwriter Creator
2022 Christmas Carol 크리스마스 캐럴 Yes Co-writing[a] No [26]
2023 Asura: The War of the Beehair 아수라장: 범털들의 전쟁 No Yes No [8]

Series

Series(s) credit
Year Title Network Credited as Ref.
English Korean Original Writer Screenwriter Creator
2017 Argon 아르곤 tvN No Co-authoring[b] No [27]
2019 The Lies Within 모두의 거짓말 OCN Yes[c] No Yes [28][29]
2024 Gangnam B-Side 강남 비-사이드 Disney+ No Yes No [30]
2026 Unfriend 언프렌드 TVING No Co-writing[d] No [31][8]

Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations received by Joo
Award ceremony Year Category Nominee / Work Result Ref.
The 2nd Ganhyang Architectural Literature Award 2000 Essay Architecture as a Function of Judgment Won [32]
Gwangju Daily Literary Award 2006 Short Story Knife Won [33]
The 14th Hankyoreh Literary Award 2009 Novel A Cruel History of an Outsider RaceWon [34]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ with director Kim Seong-soo[25]
  2. ↑ Co-authoring with authors Joon Young-shin and Shin Ha-eun
  3. ↑ based on novel Anti-Human Declaration by Joo Won-gyu
  4. ↑ with Kim Jee-woon

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kang, Dong-seok (September 1, 2016). 한국교회, '해체'가 답이다 [Korean church, 'dissolution' is the answer.]. 뉴스앤조이 (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  2. 1 2 목사 작가 주원규 7번째 장편소설 '반인간 선언… ' 출간 [Pastor writer Joo Won-gyu's 7th novel 'An anti-human declaration...' published]. Seoul Shinmun (in Korean). January 7, 2012. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "열외인간들 모아 분노의 비주류축제 벌였죠" ["We gathered outsiders and held a smainstream festival of anger."]. The Hankyoreh (in Korean). May 27, 2009. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  4. ↑ "비주류의 공분 표출할 수 없는 현실 그려" ["Draw the reality that can't express the resonance of non-mainstream"]. Kyunghyang Shinmun (in Korean). July 16, 2009. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 학교밖 아이들 클럽 취업 후 마약 알선 및 성매매...안타까워 [Out-of-school children's club post-employment drug placement and sex trafficking... I feel sorry for you]. yhnews. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  6. ↑ [인터뷰] '아르곤' 김주혁 "손석희 앵커와 비슷? 흉내 내지 않았다" [[Interview] 'Argon' Kim Joo-hyuk "Similar to anchor Son Seok-hee? I didn't imitate it."]. 종합일간지 : 신문/웹/모바일 등 멀티 채널로 국내외 실시간 뉴스와 수준 높은 정보를 제공 (in Korean). October 19, 2017. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  7. ↑ '동주' 신연식-'아르곤' 주원규, 국내 최초 작가 에이전시 계약 ['Dongju' Shin Yeon-sik – 'Argon' Joo Won-gyu signed the first writer agency contract in Korea]. 언론사 뷰. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 배우 최민, 영화 '아수라장: 범털들의 전쟁' 김대호 역 출연. sports.khan.co.kr (in Korean). July 14, 2023. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  9. ↑ 한겨레문학상에 주원규씨 '열외인종 잔혹사' [Joo Won-gyu's 'Atrocities of Extrahumanity' at the Hankyoreh Literary Award]. The Hankyoreh (in Korean). May 27, 2009. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  10. ↑ 불량 감독·선수, 짜고치는 야구 판 뒤집기. Kukmin Ilbo (in Korean). January 22, 2010. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  11. ↑ 주원규 신작장편소설 '망루'. 언론사 뷰. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  12. ↑ 12월 17일 교양·문학 새 책. The Hankyoreh (in Korean). December 16, 2011. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  13. ↑ 목사 작가 주원규 7번째 장편소설 '반인간 선언.. ' 출간. 언론사 뷰. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  14. ↑ '살인기계' 여주인공의 기억을 위한 싸움. The Hankyoreh (in Korean). March 19, 2015. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  15. ↑ [새책 200자 읽기] '크리스마스 캐럴' 外. The Seoul Economic Daily (in Korean). December 23, 2016. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  16. ↑ 김, 광섭. "사임당, 지금 느껴도 당차고 주체적인 여성". Naver News (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  17. ↑ "＜뉴스앤조이＞ 연재 소설 '나쁜 하나님' 출간 북 콘서트". 뉴스앤조이 (in Korean). September 18, 2017. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  18. ↑ [인터뷰│'메이드 인 강남' 주원규 작가] 강남 클럽에서 미성년자 성매매 공공연히 벌어져 [[Interview│'Made in Gangnam' writer Joo Won-gyu] Underage prostitution takes place in public at Gangnam Club]. Naeil Shinmun. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  19. ↑ 11월 15일 어린이·청소년 새 책. The Hankyoreh (in Korean). November 14, 2019. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  20. ↑ [신간] 반인간선언 / 로메리고 주식회사 [[New] Anti-Humanity Declaration / Romerigo Co., Ltd.]. News1 (in Korean). November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  21. ↑ 2월 28일 문학 새 책. The Hankyoreh (in Korean). February 28, 2020. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  22. ↑ 이, 승우 (June 11, 2021). 직시해야만 드러나는 가출 청소년 잔혹사. Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  23. ↑ "정신 차려, 여기 서초동이야"…한 검찰 스토리, 이것은 소설? 현실?. Pressian (in Korean). February 5, 2022. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  24. ↑ "[1일1책] 종교적 정답의 모순을 고발하고 편견과 통념에 질문하는 이야기". 뉴스앤조이 (in Korean). March 24, 2023. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  25. ↑ 아시아프로젝트마켓에 이름을 올린 한국 감독들 [Korean Directors Named in Asia Project Market]. MarieClaireKorea (in Korean). September 29, 2021. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  26. ↑ 주원규 "버닝썬 사태는 포화 상태에 이르러 공론화된 것" [Joo Won-gyu "The burning sun incident has become a public debate when it reaches a state of saturation"]. hub.zum.com (in Korean). March 25, 2019. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  27. ↑ "Argon CJENM Website". CJENM. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  28. ↑ "'타인은 지옥이다' 후속 '모두의 거짓말', 10월12일 첫방 확정(공식)". Naver (in Korean). Maeil Broadcasting Network. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  29. ↑ 반인간선언 – Yes24. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  30. ↑ Ahn, Tae-hyun (February 29, 2024). 조우진·지창욱·하윤경, '강남 비-사이드'로 뭉친다…올 하반기 공개 [Jo Woo-jin, Ji Chang-wook, Ha Yoon-kyung, unite with 'Gangnam B-Side'... Unveiling in the second half of this year]. Naver News (in Korean). Archived from the original on February 29, 2024. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
  31. ↑ Bae, Dong-mi (December 8, 2022). 용필름, 박찬욱‧김지운‧방우리 감독 차기작 제작한다 [Yongfilm, director Park Chan-wook, Kim Ji-woon, and Bang Woo-ri will produce the next film.]. Cine21 (in Korean). Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  32. ↑ "주신 삶의 아름다움 일깨우는 '열린 예배당'이 좋은 건축". Kukmin Ilbo (in Korean). September 10, 2021. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  33. ↑ 제2회 광주일보문학상 소설가 주원규씨 수상. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). August 5, 2020. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  34. ↑ 한겨레문학상에 주원규씨 '열외인종 잔혹사' [Joo Won-gyu's 'Atrocities of Extrahumanity' at the Hankyoreh Literary Award]. 언론사 뷰. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
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