Born in 1957 in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Kim Nam-il studied Dutch (BA) at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Since his literary debut in 1983 with the publication of his short story “Bari” in the journal The Literature of Our Generation, he has penned the novel The Border (7 vols.), short story collection A Certain Morning of the World, and children’s fiction Bye-bye, Alley (published by Changbi) and A Wandering Flower’s Travels. Currently the Chairman of the International Committee within the Association of Writers for National Literature, he has traveled extensively to less trodden places of the world including the Silk Road, Tibet, and the Himalayas and is very much interested in introducing the literatures other Asian countries to Korea.