Therese Park

Born and raised in South Korea, Therese Park came to the U.S. to play cello with the Kansas City Philharmonic/Symphony in 1966. Her first novel A Gift of the Emperor is narrated by a young Korean schoolgirl whose life is shattered when she was forced into sex slavery in a Japanese military brothel on a Pacific Island during World War II. This book was published in several different languages. Her second novel When a Rooster Crows at Night is based on her experience of the Korean War as a child; and her third book The Northern Wind: Forced Journey to North Korea is about turbulent South Korea in mid 1960's when the nation faced serious challenges--the Vietnam War, in which South Korean troops fought along side the Americans, the North Korean infiltrators killed and kidnapped civilians as well as government leaders, and the New Country Building Campaigne was enforced nationwide.

In 2006, Park was chosen to write the Midwest Voices columns for the Kansas City Star-Opinion Page, and since January 2009, she has been writing Commentary for the Star/Johnson County Neighborhood News.