International Proverse Prize Winner 2021 (one of 2 winners). Jane, Frank and Mia is about three people who cross each other’s paths by some unforeseen event. Jane and Frank are seemingly opposites. Jane is a Korean woman who came to the Netherlands to marry Mia’s father but is now divorced and raising her 15-year-old daughter Mia. Frank is Mia’s chemistry teacher and is famous for his blunt aggressive attitude. As for Mia, she has been feeling lost since her parents’ divorce, and unconsciously becomes the pivot of the story as she struggles to find herself. The lives of these three become intertwined as they recognize each other’s pain and the obstacles each face, such as discrimination, oppression, misunderstanding, and violence. The author writes, “As a member of a diaspora myself, I love reading books by writers with immigrant backgrounds. War and poverty caused earlier migrations, and often there was no possibility of return. And when you can’t go back, it gives the story finality, urgency. Later generations, people like myself, had more choices. They could return to their country of origin or move to yet another country for their career, for profit, or for love. I am intrigued by what makes a home and why people stay or leave. I wanted to tell a story about someone who’d left their home.” *** A Korean woman comes to The Netherlands to marry but subsequently is divorced, brings up her daughter alone but then meets Frank, her daughter’s chemistry teacher. The lives of Jane, Frank and Mia become intertwined as they recognize each other’s pain and the obstacles each face.