Kim Hoon began writing fiction in his fifties after a long career in journalism. His first novel, Song of the Sword, was published in 2001 and went on to become a great commercial and critical success. Kim has since received many prestigious awards including the Dongin Literature Award and the Yi Sang Prize for Short Fiction. He is considered one of the most distinctive stylists writing in the Korean language today and his books include the novel Song of Strings and two volumes of Bicycle Journeys, a collection of travel essays.