Writers from South Korea

HAN Ki (born in Seoul, 1959) is an assistant professor at Ansung National Univversity and recently joined Literature and Thought magazine. His publications include Literature and Society at a Turning Point (1991) and At the Threshold of Rationalism (1997). He holds the Ph.D. in Korean modern literature from Seoul National University. The Korean Culture and Arts Foundation is providing his grant in cooperation with the IWP.

HWANG Jaewoo writes under the pen name Hwang JiWoo. He is professor and chair of the Department of Playwriting at the Korean National University of Arts. He led a new wave of deconstructionist poetry in the 1980s, which was part of the new "rhetoric of resistance" in Korean literature. His subsequent work is described as embodying a native spirit, with its Korean Zen Buddhist traditions interwoven with paradox, vitality and wit. He is the author of six poetry collections, among them Even the Birds Leave the Land (1983), A Lotus in the Crab's Eye (199), I'll Sit Alone in a Darkened Pub (1998); four plays, including A Diary on the Fat Sofa (staged in 1994), Thirty Days in Prison, staged in 1999), and Bride May (2000). Hwang Jaewoo studied aesthetics and art history at Seoul National University. His education was interrupted by a forced enlistment in the army following his imprisonment for student activism against the military dictatorship. His work has received numerous national awards, including the Contemporary Literature Prize of 1991 and the DaeSan Foundation Prize in 1999. Recently, he published a play, A Materialistic Man (2003), and a translation of his poetry, Even Birds Leave the World (trans. Christopher Merrill and Won-Chung Kim), is forthcoming from White Pine Press.

HWANG Jaewoo writes under the pen name Hwang JiWoo. He is professor and chair of the Department of Playwriting at the Korean National University of Arts. He led a new wave of deconstructionist poetry in the 1980s, which was part of the new "rhetoric of resistance" in Korean literature. His subsequent work is described as embodying a native spirit, with its Korean Zen Buddhist traditions interwoven with paradox, vitality and wit. He is the author of six poetry collections, among them Even the Birds Leave the Land (1983), A Lotus in the Crab's Eye (199), I'll Sit Alone in a Darkened Pub (1998); four plays, including A Diary on the Fat Sofa (staged in 1994), Thirty Days in Prison, staged in 1999), and Bride May (2000). Hwang Jaewoo studied aesthetics and art history at Seoul National University. His education was interrupted by a forced enlistment in the army following his imprisonment for student activism against the military dictatorship. His work has received numerous national awards, including the Contemporary Literature Prize of 1991 and the DaeSan Foundation Prize in 1999. Recently, he published a play, A Materialistic Man (2003), and a translation of his poetry, Even Birds Leave the World (trans. Christopher Merrill and Won-Chung Kim), is forthcoming from White Pine Press.

Ethan W. KIM (b. 1959, Changhung) is an associate professor of English Literature at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Korea. He has received his Ph. D. in English from University of Iowa (1993) and written widely about contemporary American poets, especially ecopoets such as Gary Snyder, Wendell Berry, and A.R. Ammons. He is vice-president of ASLE_Korea (Association for the Study of Literature and Environment) and editor of Literature and Environment. He was awarded several times Korean Literature Translation Institute Grant and Daesan Foundation Award, and has translated more than six books of Korean poetry, including Heart's Agony (White Pine Press, 1998), Flowers in the Toilet Bowl (Homa & Sekey, Fall, 2003), and Trees of the World (Kegan Paul International, forthcoming). Presently he is translating with Christopher Merrill the works of Jiwoo Hwang (2000 IWP participant) and an anthology of contemporary Korean poetry. He is participating courtesy of the Freeman Foundation.

KWON Ji-Ye writes in a wide range of fictional genres. She earned a degree in English from Ewha University, taught middle school, and received a doctoral degree from the University of Paris in 2000. Since then, she has lectured at various Korean universities, including most recently, Donghae. Kwon made her Korean literary debut in 1997 with the story, "The Dreaming Marionette," in the magazine, LaPlume; her story also appears in an eponymously titled collection published in 2002. That same year, she won the Isang Literary Prize, Korea's highest award for literature for her short story, "Eel Stew," which was also translated into Chinese. Her second short story collection was Burst of Laughter (2003) and her latest work, a novel called A Beautiful Hell, was published in early 2004 by Literature and Ideas Publishing Company. The essay, "Kwon Ji-Ye's Paris, Paris, Paris," was published in July 2004. Kwon, who now lives and writes full-time in Seoul, is participating courtesy of the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation.

YIM Phil-sung is well-known for his distinctive short films Souvenir (1997), Baby (1998) and So Nyeon Gi (1999, ‘Brushing’), all shown at the Clermont-Ferrand, Chicago and Venice international film festivals. After completing the short Mobil (2004, part of the omnibus feature Show Me), presented at Puchon Fantastic Film Festival, he embarked on his first full-length feature Antarctic Journal, based on his eponymous novel and starring Song Gang-Ho. This mystery thriller, revolving around a Korean expedition to the continent, was released this summer in Korea and Japan. He participates courtesy of the Freeman Foundation.

KIM Jee-woon is one of the most prominent directors of the so-called Post New Korean New Wave. He began his career as a stage actor and director, with Hot Sea (1994) and Movie Movie (1995). His move to screenwriting brought quick success: in 1997 his screenplays Wonderful Seasons and The Quiet Family both won first prizes at festivals. Kim's directorial debut was The Quiet Family, which won top honors at the Portugal Fantasporto Film Festival, and was an official selection at the Berlin International Film Festival. His next movie, The Foul King, which he wrote and directed, rose to become the number-one movie in Korea for six months—sealing his reputation as one of his country's leading directors.

CHOI Jung Lae (Jeongrye) has published four books of poetry, most notably Tigers in the Sunlight, which received the Kimdaljin Literary Prize in 1999, and Red Dry Field, which won the Isu Literary Prize in 2003. She holds a PhD in Korean modern poetry from Korea University, where she has recently lectured. She has also served as a research professor at Jeonju University, located in Jeollabuk-do. She participates courtesy of the Korean Literature Translation Institute.

RA Heeduk received her PhD in Korean Language and Literature from Yonsei University in 2006. She has authored five books of poetry, most recently ‘A Disappeared Palm’ (2004); one collection of essays (‘A Water Bucket Filled By Half,’ 1999); and a volume of literary criticism (‘Where Does the Purple Come From,’ 2003). Among her awards is an I-San Prize for Literature (2004). She currently teaches literature at Chosun University in Kwangju. She participates courtesy of Arts Council Korea.

LEE Jang Wook has authored two poetry collections, [‘A Sand Mountain In My Dream’] (2002), and [‘Hopeful Song at Noon’] (2006).  He has also written two books of essays on poetry and a novel, [‘Joyful Devils of Callot’] (2005).  He lives in Seoul, where he edits the South Korean quarterly, Changbi.  He participates courtesy of the Korea Literature Translation Institute (KLTI).

KANG Youngsook made her literary debut with the short story collection [‘Shaken’] in (2002). Her other story collections are [‘Every Day is a Celebration’](2004) and [‘Black in Red’](2009). For her full-length novel, Rina (2006),which was serialized in the quarterly Literary Joongang, she received the 39th Hankook Ilbo Award. She has participated in the Seoul Young Writers’ Festival and the East Asia Literature Forum in 2008. Since 1990, Kang has served as an advisory member of the Korea Dialogue Academy. She participates courtesy of Arts Council Korea.

KIM Soom has published three novels, [‘Idiots’] (2006), [‘The Iron’] (2008), and [‘The Water’] (2009), and two collections of short stories, [‘The Fighting Dog’] (2005) and [‘The Bed’], which was selected by Hyundae Munhak as the 2007 Best Novel of the Year. Kim has been a finalist for several literary awards, and was the recipient of the 1998 Munhakdongne prize for new writers. Currently she is an editor at Yolimwon Publishing, and works as a book reviewer for a number of newspapers and literary journals. Her participation is independently funded.

KIM Sa-in has published two collections of poetry, Night Letters (1987) and Liking in Silence (2006), four collections of criticism, including A Deep Reading of the Novels of Park Sang-Ryung (2001), and a book of essays, A Warm Bowl of Rice (2006). Following time in prison in the early 1980s he began writing poetry and co- founded the magazine "Poetry and Economy." Among his awards are the Sin Dong-Yup Grant for Writing (1987), Modern Literature Prize for poetry (2005), and the Daesan Literature Prize for poetry (2006). He teaches creative writing at Dongduk Women's University, and hosts broadcast programs devoted to poetry and spirituality. His participation is made possible by Arts Council Korea.

PARK Chan Soon (fiction writer, translator; South Korea) made her literary debut in 2006 after working as a film translator for dubbing and subtitling for thirty years, with over fifty documentaries and hundreds of feature films to her credit. She has also worked as a subtitler for film festivals, and translated a number of books for adults and children. She is the author of [Whisperings of a Translator – Movie Translation, Aesthetics of Communication] (2005); her first collection of short stories, [The Garden of Balhae] came out in 2009. She is a professor of English Literature at Seoul Women's University. Her participation is made possible by Arts Council Korea.

CHOI Myoung Sook (playwright; South Korea) is a lecturer of drama and modern culture at Soonchunhyang and Baeksuk Universities. She has written six staged plays, including 모텔 피아노 [Motel Piano] (2007), 두 아이 [Two Daughters](2011) and directed the [Actors Read Novels] series in Seoul from 2008 to 2012. The title play for her published collection, 그리고 또 하루 [And Again, Another Day] (2009), was staged at the 33^rd Seoul Theatre Festival in 2012 and won the prize for drama. Her participation is funded by Arts Council Korea.

KIM Seoryung (fiction writer; South Korea) has since her debut in 2003 published seven books, including the novels [The Chop Waltz] (2010) and [Humming on the Bicycle] (2012), and the award-winning story collection [Where Do I Go] (2012).  Her most recent work is the collection of prose [We Need Sundays; 2013]; the novel [Nana] is being serialized in the daily Hankyoreh. She is an editor of the [Quarterly Literature Magazine] and an administrator in the literature division of the Asia Culture Network. She participates courtesy of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.

KIM EuGene (fiction writer; South Korea) was awarded the Munhakdongne Young Writers Prize in 2011, then went on to win the Hwang Soon-won Young Writers Prize two years later. Under the pen name Kim Yujin she has published three novels, with [Summer] (2012)] being her most recent. She participates courtesy of Arts Council Korea.

KIM Doyoon 김도윤 (fiction writer, librettist, translator, critic; South Korea) is the author of three books and many stories, as well as of opera libretti and scripts for plays. She is also a translator and dramaturg. Among her themes are white-collar crime, ancient legends and history, and hybrid cultures. Kim’s libretto “Vandal Sara” was awarded the Arko Create award, and was recently showcased. She participates courtesy of Arts Council Korea.

KIM Hena  김혜나 (fiction writer, South Korea) studied Korean language and literature at the University of Cheong-ju. Her first novel, [Jerry], was the 2010 winner of Today’s Author Prize; the second, [Junk], was long listed for the 2013 Dong-In Prize of Literature; [The Goldstar Telephone] received the 2016 Soorim Prize of Literature. She has also published a book of essays on yoga, [What Makes Me Breathe]. She participates courtesy of Arts Council Korea.