Kim Hyesoon

Kim Hyesoon is a South Korean poet widely regarded as one of the most significant and influential voices in contemporary Korean literature. Born in Uljin, South Korea, she was educated at Seoul National University, where she later taught for many years. She is now Professor Emerita of Seoul Institute of the Arts. Her work is known for its surrealist imagery, feminist critique, grotesque aesthetics, and engagement with Korean shamanism, colonial history, and women's suffering. She has published over fifteen poetry collections in Korean since her debut in 1979. Phantom Pain Wings (2023), translated into English by Don Mee Choi and published by New Directions, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry—making Kim Hyesoon the first Korean poet to win this prize. The collection mourns the deaths of young people and explores collective grief and trauma through striking imagery. Choi, who has translated most of Hyesoon's work into English, has made accessible to American readers collections including Sorrowtoothpaste Mirrorcream (2014), I'm OK, I'm Pig! (2014), Autobiography of Death (2018), and Phantom Pain Wings. Hyesoon has received the Kim Chiha Prize, the Midang Award, and the Gim Junsey Prize in Korea, and the International Griffin Poetry Prize in 2019.