One time, a junior colleague told her to order him a sandwich and this was the breaking point as she started seeing all manner of weird and discriminatory behavior all over. At the workplace, management always expected female workers to set up tables at meal times regardless of the hierarchy. The biggest turning point for Cho Nam-Joo came when she was working at a broadcasting station in Seoul. She believes that women have pretty much similar experiences in their lives and this is what she set out to document in her works. It was after she graduated from university, got a job, got married, and started dealing with her patriarchal in-laws that she started taking discrimination more seriously.Ĭho Nam-Joo believes it was her many experiences that made it possible for her to write her blockbuster work so fast without needing a lot of prep work. When she was much older, she went graduated from high school and college but never got to understand the nature of sexual discrimination. Even though it was subtle, she often felt the injustices as a natural part of life, just like the lead character in her blockbuster work. While her mother worked, Nam-Joo used to make meals for her brother and father, despite the fact that she was very young. When she was growing up, she lived in a home with a big brother who was much older and an older sister who was closer to her in age. Much of Cho Nam-Joo ‘s work is inspired by her upbringing in Seoul. In fact, she never even thought there was any money to be made in writing until she penned “Kim Ji Young.” In interviews, she has said she was completely taken by surprise when the novels went viral and launched her career as an author.

While Choo Na-Joo loved writing for TV, the job paid very little so she decided to quit and start a family. Later on, she would become a scriptwriter as she penned all manner of scripts for TV. She used to reveal her feelings and fears in diaries that she would then share with her classmates. Writing too was something she started doing very early on. As such, most of the books that she read were the ones she borrowed from her friends and her siblings. The author was brought up in one of the poorest suburbs of Seoul in a family that was not financially or emotionally stable.Įven during that time, she loved reading but the libraries around hardly had any books and her family did not have any money to buy books.

Cho Nam-Joo is a former television scriptwriter turned bestselling science fiction author best known for her novel “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982.”

Cho nam joo books