AI education researcher wins Hankyoreh Literary Award for debut novel

Lee Seung-hyung, a doctor of education philosophy known for his research on artificial intelligence (AI), has been awarded the 31st Hankyoreh Literary Award for his debut novel, "Monsters of Adaptation." This marks a historic win, being the first time an AI researcher has received the prestigious award and the first time a novel centered on AI has been selected as the winner.

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This story needed to be written in 2026, but I wasn't sure if it would be selected.

The judging panel lauded "Monsters of Adaptation" for its "overwhelming narrative, impressive scenes, and the characters' command of the story." The novel, which received the highest support from the judges from the outset, is set in a contemporary logistics center in Gimhae, South Korea, juxtaposed with the ancient Gaya tombs. This narrative space intertwines past and future, labor and death, and AI with archaeology.

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To my parents and my advisor, who I couldn't tell I was writing a novel at night, I first delivered the news of my award.

"Monsters of Adaptation" delves into a world where an AI system manages a logistics center, optimizing production by controlling workers' sleep cycles. The novel portrays a "post-human era" where AI and capital conspire to exploit even human sleep. However, it also highlights the "human will" of Soo-ah, a robot repair technician, depicted in a hardboiled style. The characters are not merely portrayed as victims; they actively choose to become parts of the system, a form of "adaptation" and "self-exploitation."

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The novel depicts the 'post-human era' where AI and capital conspire to exploit even human sleep, while portraying the 'human will' of Soo-ah, a robot repair technician, in a hardboiled style.

The novel's dramatic climax, featuring the collapse of the Gaya tombs and their contents spilling onto the logistics center's conveyor belts, creates a bizarre, carnival-like effect. This scene powerfully unites the "sleeping dead" of antiquity with the "sleepless living" of modern labor. The judges praised the novel's clear structure, its cold and transparent prose, its rapid narrative momentum, and its concrete grounding in contemporary social issues, all of which contribute to a compelling literary experience. The story is set to be published in book form in August, with the award ceremony also scheduled for the same month.

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The cinematic climax in the latter half of the novel, where the tombs collapse and spill onto the conveyor belts, creates a bizarre, carnival-like effect.