Kim Hyesoon

Kim Hyesoon
Born	1955 (age 61–62)
Occupation	Poet, professor
Nationality	Republic of Korea
Genre	Poetry
Literary movement	Feminism

Kim Hyesoon (born 1955) (Hangul: 김혜순) is a South Korean poet.

Life

In 1955 Kim Hyesoon was born in Uljin, Gyeongsangbuk-do. She received her Ph.D. in Korean Literature from Konkuk University and began as a poet in 1979 with the publication of Poet Smoking a Cigarette (Dambaereul piuneun siin) and four other poems in Literature and Intellect.^[1] Kim is an important contemporary poet in South Korea, and she lives in Seoul and teaches creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. Kim was in the forefront of women published in a literary journal, Munhak kwa jisŏng (Literature and Intellect).^[2]

Work

Kim started to receive critical acclaim in the late 1990s and it is her own belief that her work was partly recognized because at that time there was a generally strong wave of women’s poets and poetry.^[3]

Kim is the recipient of multiple literary prizes including the Kim Su-yŏng Literature Award (1996) for her poem, A Poor Love Machine, Sowol Poetry Literature Award (2000),^[4] and Midang Literature Award (2006), which are named after three renowned contemporary Korean poets. Kim was the first woman poet to receive the Kim Su-yŏng Literature Award, Midang Award, contemporary poetry award and Daesan Literary Award.

Kim’s poetry collections include: From another star (1981), Father's scarecrow (1984), The Hell of a certain star (1987), Our negative picture (1991), My Upanishad, Seoul (1994), A Poor Love Machine (1997), To the Calendar Factory Manager (2000), A Glass of Red Mirror (2004), Your First (2008), and Sorrowtoothpaste Mirrorcream (2011)Blossom, Pig(2016)

Kim has participated in readings at poetry festivals all over the world: Smith College Poetry Center (2003), Taipei Poetry Festival (2008), 41st Poetry International Festival Rotterdam (2010), Poesie Festival Berlin (2011), Poetry Parnassus London (2012), Stockholm international Poetry Festival(2014), Hong Kong International Poetry nights(2015) etc.

Kim's skill as a writer resides in her facility at combining poetic images with experimental language while simultaneously grounding her work in ‘feminine writing’ drawn from female experiences.^[5] Her language is violent and linguistically agile, appropriate for her topics which often center on death and/or injustice.^[6] Many times, Kim’s poetry is marked by the color of blood, as in “red baby,”“red embryonic fluid,”and “red dew.”^[7]

Works in English

Many translated into English by poet Don Mee Choi.

• Poor Love Machine ISBN 978-0-900575-75-4
• I'm O.K, I'm Pig ISBN 978-1-78037-102-3
• Sorrowtoothpaste Mirrorcream ISBN 978-0-9898048-1-3
• Mommy Must be a Fountain of Feathers ISBN 0979975514
• Anxiety of Words (Collection with other authors): ISBN 0939010879
• All the Garbage of the World, Unite!: ISBN 0983148015
• When the Plug Gets Unplugged
• Princess Abandoned (essays), (Tinfish, 2012)

Added to The &NOW Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing (&NOW Books, 2013)^[8]

Works in Korean (Partial)

• Tto tarŭn pyŏl esŏ (From Another Star), Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, Seoul, 1981
• Abŏjiga seun hŏsuabi (Father’s Scarecrow), Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, Seoul, 1985
• Ŏnŭ pyŏl ŭi chiok (The Hell of a Certain Star), Ch’ŏngha Seoul, 1988. Reprinted by Munhakdongnae, 1997
• Uridŭl ŭi ŭmhwa (Our Negative Picture), Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, Seoul, 1991
• Na ŭi up’anisyadŭ, Sŏul (My Upanishad, Seoul), Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, Seoul, 1994
• Pulssanghan sarang kigye (A Poor Love Machine), Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, Seoul, 1997
• Talyŏk kongjang kongjang jangnim poseyŏ (To the Calendar Factory Manager), Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, Seoul, 2000
• Han chan ŭi pulgŭn kŏul (A Glass of Red Mirror), Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, Seoul, 2004
• Tangshin ŭi ch’ŏt (Your First), Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, Seoul, 2008
• Sŭlpŭmchiyak Gŏulcream (Sorrowtoothpaste Mirrorcream), Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, Seoul 2011
• Pieora Doiji (Blossom, Pig), Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, Seoul 2016
• Jukeum eu Jaseojeon (The autobiography of Death), Munhaksilheomsil, Seoul 2016

Essays

• To Write as a Woman: Lover, Patient, Poet, and You (Seoul: Munhakdongnae, 2002) - Essay on Poetry
• Thus Spoke No (Poessay) (Seoul: Munhakdongane, 2016)
• Women, Doing Poetry (Seoul: Munhak kwa chisŏng sa, 2017)

Critical responses

Ruth Williams. "“Female Poet” as Revolutionary Grotesque: Feminist Transgression in the Poetry of Ch’oe Sŭng-ja, Kim Hyesoon, and Yi Yŏn-ju." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 29.2 (2010): 395-415. Project MUSE. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.

Awards

• Kim Suyoung Award (1997)
• Sowol Poetry Award (2000)
• Contemporary Poetry Award (2000)
• Midang Poetry Award (2006)
• Daesan Poetry Award (2008)^[9]

See also

• Korean literature
• List of Korean-language poets
• List of Korean female writers

References

External links

Several of Kim's poems are translated here at the South Korea - Poetry International Web

• Four Poems from Kim Hyesoon's 'Autobiography of Death' Cordite Poetry Review
• Review of Kim Hyesoon’s poetry as well as the poetry written by her translator Don Mee Choi.
• Interview with Kim Hyesoon in Guernica
• Interview with Kim Hyesoon at KTLIT

Review of Kim Hyesoon’s Mommy Must be a Fountain of Feathers at Bookslut, January 2010. Review of Mommy Must Be a Fountain of Feathers in Constant Critic, March 2008,
Review of All the Garbage of the World Unite! at Montevidayo
A Mention at BURNAWAY

• Poems and an interview