Poems of Hwang Yuwon, Ha Jaeyoun & Seo Dae-kyung

Translated from Korean by Jake Levine, Soeun Seo, Hedgie Choi, Hyemi Seok and Soohyun Yang. Edited and introduced by Jake Levine.

This collection builds upon the growing catalogue of new and exciting voices by contemporary Korean poets whose works are being introduced to an English language audience for the first time. The maximalist poems of Hwang Yuwon explode on the page like the piling boxcars of a train carrying bricks. The persona poems of Seo Dae-kyung introduce us to a dark and humorous dreamscape, where everything might be possible, and yet are tragically tied down by the human condition. And the lyric poems of Ha Jaeyoun progress gently, tiptoeing down the circling paths of a philosophical landscape marked by narrative breakdowns, miscommunication, and play. The range of styles and content in this book is exemplary of the unbound heterogeneity of Korean poetry being written at this moment.

Hwang Yuwon was born in Ulsan in 1982. He received a B.A in Religious Studies and Philosophy from Sogang University and is currently getting his Ph.D in Indian Philosophy at Dongguk University. His book of poetry Everything in the World, Maximized won the Kim Soo-young prize.

Ha Jaeyoun was born in 1975. In 2002 she won the best new poet’s award. She writes poetry and researches and teaches contemporary Korean literature. Her three books of poems, Radio Days (2006), Like All the Beaches in The World (2012), and Universal Hello were all published by Moonji Publishing company.

Seo Dae-kyung was born in 1976. He studied English in college. He is the author of The Idiot Feels the Atmosphere.

Jake Levine is an American translator, poet, and sometimes critic. He received both his B.A and M.F.A from the University of Arizona and is currently working on a PhD in Comparative Literature at Seoul National University. He works as an assistant professor of Creative Writing at Keimyung University and as a lecturer at the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. He is the editor of literature-in-translation at Acta Koreana and the Moon Country Korean poetry series editor at Black Ocean.  

Soeun Seo is a poet, a fiction writer, and a freelance translator from South Korea. Her translations have appeared at Hayden’s Ferry Review, Circumference, and “시와 시평” (“Poetry and Criticism”). Her original poems have been published at Hayden’s Ferry Review, Potluck Magazine, Witch Craft Magazine, and Fuck Art, Let’s Dance. She is currently attending the Michener Center for Writers.

Soohyun Yang was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to Canada as a teen. She earned a BA from Western University and an MA from Ryerson University. She completed the Regular Course at the Translation Academy of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, a governmental organization responsible for translating major Korean literary works. Yang’s translations of Jin Eun-Young’s poems have appeared in Modern Poetry in Translation. She is currently working as a translator and interpreter in Seoul.

Hedgie Choi is a graduate of Yonsei University. She is currently attending the Michener Center for Writers.

Hyemi Seok is a translator and musical writer/lyricist from Korea. She earned a BA from Yonsei University and completed the Regular Course at the Translation Academy of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. Her original works include musical film "흔한 이야기 (Ordinary Stories)" and the musical "J-Nomad."