Kim Hye-soon Receives 18th Poetry and People International Poetry Prize

Founded in 2005 by Chinese poet Huang Lihai, the Poetry and People International Poetry Prize is an annual award celebrating poets who exhibit spiritual depth and linguistic creativity. The initiative promotes cultural exchange by connecting Chinese poetry with a global audience.

Previous laureates include Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer, who received the award in 2011 before winning the Nobel Prize that same year, and Anne Carson, who won the Prize in 2022 before later securing the 2026 Nobel Prize in literature. Other notable recipients include Portuguese poet Eugenio de Andrade, Russian poet Inna Lisnyanskaya, Slovenian poet Tomaz Salamun, Polish poet Adam Zagajewski, and American poet Rita Dove.

Kim's literary career began in 1979 when she published poetry in the influential South Korean magazine Literature and Intellect Quarterly. From 1989 to 2021, she taught creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. Her poetry collections include From Another Star (1981), Father's Scarecrow (1985), Poor Love Machine (1997), To the Calendar Factory Supervisor (2000), Blossom, Pig (2016), Autobiography of Death (2016), Phantom Pain Wings (2019), and After Earth Dies, Who Will Moon Orbit? (2022).

In addition to poetry, she has written essays, including Thus Spoke No, and I Do Womananimalasia, as well as two collections exploring poetry from a female perspective: To Write as a Woman: Lover, Patient, Poet, and You, and Women, and I Do Poetry.

Kim’s accolades are numerous and include the Kim Su-yong Literary Award, the Modern Poetry Award, the Midang Literary Award, the Daesan Poetry Award, the Griffin Poetry Prize in Canada, the Swedish Cikada Prize, and the Samsung Ho-Am Prize in the Arts. Her work draws upon Chinese cultural influences, and she has made multiple visits to China. In 2024, People's Literature Publishing House will publish a Chinese compilation featuring poetry from three of her collections: A Drink of Red Mirror, Sorrowtoothpaste Mirrorcream, and Your First.

Huang Lihai noted that Kim's poetry uses the body as a form of sacrifice, creating a space between mourning and resistance where poetic thought emerges. Her work engages themes of life, violence, and collective trauma, blending elements of elegy, fate, and surrealism. Huang comments that while Kim's poetry arises from a peninsula often torn apart, it transcends regional lament and boldly challenges traditional narratives. Through agile language, she addresses enduring pain from history and the anguish of spiritual dislocation.