Hyesoon Kim


Country: South Korea
Language: Korean
Year of birth: 1955

Kim Hyesoon lives in Seoul. She began publishing in 1979 and was one of the first women to be published in a literary journal in Korea Munhak kwa jisŏng (Literature and Intellect). Kim’s poetry goes beyond the expectations of established aesthetics and traditional ‘female poetry’ (yŏryusi), which is characterised by its passive, refined language. In her experimental work she explores women’s multiple and simultaneous existence in the context of Korea’s highly patriarchal society. Kim’s poetics are rooted in her attempt to resist conventional literary forms and language long defined by men in Korea. According to Kim, female poets' resistance to patriarchal norms has led them to a language that is unreal, surreal, and even fantastical.

Read poems by Kim Hyesoon on Poetry International Web.

Wed 16 June, 20.00 hrs, small auditorium