Jinwoo Park with Elaine U. Cho — 'Oxford Soju Club'

Third Place Books welcomes writer and translator Jinwoo Park to our Ravenna store for a conversation about his novel — a tale of diasporic identity and survival wrapped up in a deftly crafted spy thriller. Jinwoo will be joined in conversation by Elaine U. Chu, author of .

This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured books!

This event is free to attend. Registration is recommended in advance.

Please note: While RSVP helps us anticipate attendance, your RSVP may not guarantee a seat. Seating is first-come, first-served, and all events at our Ravenna neighborhood store are free and open to the public. Only standing room may be available for events with high interest.

We are happy to accommodate any accessibility concerns. Please contact us at ZXZlbnRzIHwgdGhpcmRwbGFjZWJvb2tzICEgY29t or call our Ravenna store at (206) 525-2347.

The natural enemy of a Korean is another Korean.

When North Korean spymaster Doha Kim is mysteriously killed in Oxford, his prot g , Yohan Kim, chases the only breadcrumb given to him in Doha's last breath: "Soju Club, Dr. Ryu." In the meantime, a Korean American CIA agent, Yunah Choi, races to salvage her investigation of the North Korean spy cell in the aftermath of the assassination. At the centre of it all is the Soju Club, the only Korean restaurant in Oxford, owned by Jihoon Lim, an immigrant from Seoul in search of a new life after suffering a tragedy. As different factions move in with their own agendas, their fates become entangled, resulting in a bitter struggle that will determine whose truth will triumph.

Oxford Soju Club weaves a tale of how immigrants in the Korean diaspora are forced to create identities to survive, and how in the end, they must shed those masks and seek their true selves.

Jinwoo Park is a Korean Canadian writer and literary translator based in Montreal. Born in Seoul, he has lived in various parts of North America and the UK since the age of 11. After obtaining his master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Oxford in 2015, he has worked as a marketer in various fields. In 2021 he won the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers’ Award for his first fiction manuscript, Oxford Soju Club, which was published by Dundurn Press in September 2025.

Elaine U. Cho is the author of Ocean’s Godori and Teo's Durumi. She has an MFA in flute performance from CalArts and is a former film critic, former bookseller at Elliott Bay Book Company, and current associate editor for Shelf Awareness.

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events.

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