Bernard Werber named as Korea's most beloved author

French author Bernard Werber is reportedly the most beloved author in Korea during the recent 10 years.

Kyobo Bookstore said on Wednesday that from 2006 to last year, Werber had been the bestselling author with "The Ants," "Ultimate Secret," and "The Tree of Possibles." Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino took the second and the third place, respectively. Guillaume Musso of "Seven Years Later" and "Central Park" ranked fourth.

From the fifth to the seventh were Korean authors: Shin Kyung-sook, Kim Jin-myung, and Gong Ji-young. Paulo Coelho took the eighth, while Jo Jung-rae and Joanne K. Rowling ranked ninth and tenth, respectively.

The bookstore counted all top 20 bestselling books of the year from 1981 to 2015 and 700 books are on the list. Lee Mun-yeol has the most books on the list (13 books, 23 times), including "Portrait Of The Days Of Youth," "The Son of Man," and "All That Falls Has Wings." Haruki followed Lee with seven books (21 times) including "Norwegian Wood" and "1Q84." The third was Paulo Coelho.

손효림기자 aryssong@donga.com