Author: Amy Gilbert

In 2018, after a trip to Seoul for the Winter Olympics, Amy Evans Gilbert discovered she had family in her birth country of South Korea. This is her debut memoir about her journey of Becoming Korean again after 44 years of trying to live as a white American. Amy is a wife and empty nester after raising four children. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida with her husband and loves traveling to her birth country and other places all over the world.

Jacksonville Korean Language Classes

안녕하세요! The Winter semester is halfway over, and plans are underway for the next semester. We now have three levels of classes and can add more if needed. If you have ever wanted to learn Korean and live in or near Jacksonville, now is the time to take action. Email me at agilbert@katogether.org for more information.

Seoul in 2019 with 청와대, also known as the Blue House, visible at the foot of the closest mountain.

Adoptees reaching out

I love having other adoptees contacting me after reading my book. We all share something that no one else can truly understand, but we can help each other in our processing of emotions and acceptance of what happened to us. Leave me a message here and I will respond. I love hearing your stories too!

Korean Language School in Jacksonville!

Have you been wanting to study Korean, but don’t know where to begin? I have opened the Jacksonville Korean Educational Center and we are gearing up for Fall semester 2023. The classes are for True Beginners, Beginners and Level 1. What’s the difference?? The True Beginner class is for students who do not speak Korean AT ALL. You might be a K-drama or K-pop fan, but you can’t read Hanguel (if you don’t know what Hanguel is, this is the class for you) and you can’t speak Korean. Beginner Korean is for students who have been studying either on their own or they have taken and mastered True Beginner Korean with me over the summer. Level 1 is taught by a native Korean speaker and teacher. Level 1 covers more grammar rules, verb conjugation and it is expected that you understand spoken Korean and can reply in Korean at the basic level. Message me for more details.

First book signing

Book signing on January 28, 2023 with a group of Korean adoptees.

My first book signing was held at San Marco Books and More. They suggested I bring 20 copies of my book, but because there was a delay in the shipment of the 30 that I ordered, I ordered 25 additional copies. I’m glad I had extra, because I ended up selling 45 copies! Thank you to San Marco Bookstore for letting me have my first book signing at your store.

Becoming Korean – A Memoir by Amy Evans Gilbert

View of Seoul

In 2018, after a trip to Seoul for the Winter Olympics, Amy Evans Gilbert discovered she had family in her birth country of South Korea. This is her debut memoir about her journey of Becoming Korean again after 44 years of trying to live as a white American. Amy is a wife and empty nester after raising four children. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida with her husband and loves traveling to her birth country and other places all over the world.

Namsan Tower

Becoming Korean is the true story of one woman’s journey, and sometimes struggle, to embrace the nation and the heritage of the country that gave her up for adoption. After being adopted as a child and living in a white American family, she found her Korean family at the age of forty-nine, and developed relationships with them. This book describes how she is re-discovering the culture, language and family that were lost and forgotten. She shares her joys and losses of being adopted, living in America and Becoming Korean.