How a therapy detour turned South Korean illustrator Dancing Snail into a best-selling author

SINGAPORE – South Korean best-selling author and illustrator Haneul Shin – better known by her nom de plume Dancing Snail – thinks of herself as embodying the philosophy of her mollusc namesake. She is seemingly lethargic and slow to others, but in reality dancing along at her own speed.

She is the author of the two hit mental health self-help titles: I’m Not Lazy, I’m On Energy Saving Mode (2024) and It’s Okay Not To Get Along With Everyone (2025). She has also been slow to warm up to book fame, preferring to hide behind her pseudonym and keep her private life, well, private.

Six years after her first book was released in South Korea, she has embarked on her first international tour, starting with Singapore and Malaysia.

“I feel less stressed about it because, while some people might recognise me, it’s less stressful than being in Korea,” says the 38-year-old ahead of her first appearance at Books Kinokuniya on April 9. She opens up to The Straits Times about the person behind Dancing Snail through interpreter April Kim, who is moderating three book events with the author.

A snaking queue formed at Shin’s first fan-meet and signing session, with organiser Pansing Distribution estimating there were close to 100 attendees. She will be at Book Bar on April 10, 7.30pm, and Popular Nex on April 11, 2pm, before heading to Kuala Lumpur for the second half of the tour.

The Yangpyeong-based artist drew by hand as a teenager, but societal pressure led her to a practical if adjacent degree in digital media design at Hongik University. An internship stint at a corporate job left a sour taste in her mouth so, upon graduation, she taught privately and in institutions until a break-up and familial problems in her mid-20s left her in a bad mental state.

Instead of seeking professional help at first, the ever-pragmatic Shin pursued a certification in art therapy at Seoul’s Myongji University, thinking it would help heal her while offering an alternative career path.

“I didn’t realise it then, but I now know that I had a bit of lethargy and depression. The reason I didn’t know was because I could still live like a normal person. But there came a turning point when I realised I was not okay and I started to get therapy for a year. That’s when I realised I wanted to try something new. The late 20s is a period when everyone will tell you to get married, but I believed this was my last chance to try something I really wanted to,” she says while fighting back tears.

The notes she had obsessively written for herself during therapy became the basis for her best-selling books, composed of short hand-drawn comics and written entries with titles dealing with mental health and relationship issues. She might have arrived late to therapy but, this time, things moved fast – following just three posts on an online Korean-language writing platform after she attended a seminar on being an influencer, she was approached by publishers.

She credits the late writer Baek Sehee’s I Want To Die But I Want To Eat Tteokbokki, first published in South Korea in 2018, for being a pioneer in pushing taboo topics like death and depression into mainstream Korean discourse. It was Baek’s South Korean publisher from Heun Publishing who connected the two writers and commissioned Dancing Snail to illustrate Baek’s book cover.

The new wave of popular South Korean writers like Baek, DallerGut Dream Department Store (2020) author Miye Lee and Welcome To The Hyunam-dong Bookshop (2023) author Hwang Bo-reum have all made Singapore an early stop in their international book tours, drawing enthusiastic crowds of readers. Singaporean translators Shanna Tan and Gene Png have also been instrumental in bringing South Korean bestsellers to international English-reading audiences.

Of her early drawing inspirations, Shin mentions a Korean-language translation of a picture book about depression titled The Red Tree by Shaun Tan, an Australian author and illustrator with Malaysian heritage.

Shin says: “High school was such a tough time because of the university entrance exam and, when puberty came, I read this book and it touched my heart. I felt comforted and it made me think that I wanted to do something like this, to comfort someone with my writing or drawing.”

On what advice she would give young Singaporeans who might be torn between pragmatism and their dreams, she says with a chuckle: “I don’t encourage what I did back then.”

After dealing with mental health and relationship woes in her first two books, her next book to be translated into English – Starting Today, I Choose To Be Happy – focuses on her philosophy of happiness, including making fulfilling career choices.

Now married and a mum to a one-year-old boy, she thinks of it as advice she is dispensing to her child too. “The most important thing is that you need to find out what you can do and what you actually thrive in – knowing this is more important than thinking about what your dream is.”

Distilled into a pithy quote and a squiggly hand-drawn snail, she advises: “Take your time.”