Song Soo-kwon

Song Soo-Kwon (Hangul: 송수권) is a South Korean modern writer.^[1]

Life

Song Soo-Kwon was born on March 15, 1940, in Kohung Jeollanam-do, Korea.^[2] Song attended Suncheon Normal School and Goheung Junior High School^[2] before from Sorabol Arts College with a degree in Creative Writing.. Song has worked at the Kwangju Yogwang Girls Middle School as both a teacher and an educational researcher.^[3]

Work

The Korea Literature Translation Institute sums Song's poetry up:

Bitterness is the most salient sentiment in this Song Sugweon’s work; but his poetry emphasizes not the typical sentiment of a weak bitterness giving rise to self-contempt, but rather, within that bitterness, a dignified masculine identity of immanent intimacy and power. He has published many works that succeed in preserving the flavor and style of the southern dialects, designed to inspire the people through a consciousness of history and regional differences.^[4]

Song's work centers on the lives of common people, although Song does not see live as a confrontation between have and have-nots, and Song's work follows the lines of classical Korean lyricism. Being born, raised, and still living in Jeollnam-do, Song's poetry is strongly infused with traces of regional culture, and is extremely tradition oriented.^[3]

Works in Korean (Partial)

Poetry Collections

• Sanmune gidaeeo (1980)
• Dreaming Island (Kkumkkuneun seom, 1982)
• Mute Porcelain (Ado, 1984), Bird! Bird! O Bluebird! (Saeya saeya parangsaeya, 1986)
• Our Land (Ulideurui ttang, 1988)
• Even in My Sleep I Smile at the Thought of You (Jadagado geudae saenggakhamyeon unneunda, 1991)
• Watchman on a Starry Night (Byeolbamjigi, 1992)

Prose Collections

• At the Temple Gate once again (Dasi sanmune gidaeeo, 1985)
• Love Folds its Huge Wings (Sarangi keodarake nalgaereul jeopgo, 1989)
• Journey to the South (Namdo gihaeng, 1990).

Awards

• Literature and Thought (Munhaksasang) New Writers Award (1975)
• Ministry of Culture and Information Arts award (Mungongbu yesulsang)
• Geumho Cultural Foundation Arts award (Geumhomunhwajaedan yesulsang)
• Jeollanam-do Culture award (Jeollanam-do munhwasang)
• Kim Sowol Poetry prize (Sowol simunhaksang)

References