“Tonight, there’s no place for me / to hide except in this bathroom / I’m called by the sound of / water streaming from the faucet / I mourn in here // My hand trembles / as I curl up my eyelashes with mascara as if lifting up my black wings // The sound of rain hitting the tiles pushes me off the deep end // Tonight, there’s no place for me to put down my poem” (<날개 환상통>, 《날개 환상통》, 문학과지성사, 2019 / “Phantom Pain Wings,” Phantom Pain Wings, New Directions, 2023)
Kim Hyesoon is a poet who writes from a feminist perspective.
1. Life
Kim Hyesoon was born in Uljin, Gyeongsangbuk-do, in 1955. In 1978, her essay “Siwa hoehwaui mihakcheok gyoryu” (시와 회화의 미학적 교류 The Aesthetic Interchange between Poetry and Painting) won the Dong-a Ilbo New Writer’s Contest, and she began her literary career in 1979 with the publication of five poems, including "Dambaereul piuneun siche" (담배를 피우는 시체 A Corpse Smoking a Cigarette), in the winter issue of the quarterly Munhakgwa jiseong. Since then, she has continued to publish numerous poetry collections and books on poetics. In 1989, she was appointed professor in the Department of Creative Writing at Seoul Institute of the Arts, where she taught until 2021, and is now professor emerita in its School of Creative Writing. From 2000, she served on the editorial board of the poetry quarterly Poesie, and from 2002 on that of the literary quarterly Para21. Her collection Jugeumui jaseojeon (죽음의 자서전 Autobiography of Death), which records both the absurdities that fracture society and the social deaths it produces, such as the tragedy of the Sewol ferry disaster, won both the Griffin Poetry Prize (Canada) in 2019 and the Cikada Prize (Sweden) in 2021. In 2024, Phantom Pain Wings became the first Korean work to receive the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, praised for presenting an alternative imaginative world that imagines beyond war, dictatorship, and patriarchy.
2. Writing
Kim Hyesoon began her literary career in the 1980s. In her poetry collections from this period, she exposes the violent realities of her time and gives voice to a reckoning with the oppression of women and resistance against it. She published four collections during the 1980s. In her first, Tto dareun byeoreseo (또 다른 별에서 From Another Star), published in 1981, she denounced gender-based violence through images of women subjected to physical pain and humiliation, while in her second collection Abeojiga seun heosuabi (아버지가 세운 허수아비 The Scarecrow My Father Erected), published in 1985, she moved beyond portraying women as fixed in the position of victims, using a combative female speaker to subvert the binary oppositions of perpetrator and victim, male and female. In the same work, she deliberately drew parallels between human civilization’s exploitation of nature and the epistemic violence of androcentrism. Kim’s writing is closely tied to her understanding of reality that she developed through her involvement in Alternative Culture, a literary collective engaged in feminist activism. By the 1990s, she was exploring female subjectivity in fuller, more autonomous terms and delving into women’s inner lives while foregrounding an individual’s everyday experience and plural subjectivities. Rather than focusing on grand narratives, she illuminated the variety of daily life. From the 2000s onward, Kim has intensified her poetic experimentation. In Pieora dwaeji (피어라 돼지 I’m OK, I’m Pig!), the body of her poetic speaker breaks apart, transforms, and unleashes a torrent of visceral imagery as it stands against the historical violence wielded by the male-centered symbolic order. By giving form to the vulnerable—their deaths and resurrections, their desires and love—Kim critiques the violence and misery of reality. In Nalgae hwansangtong (날개 환상통 Phantom Pain Wings), she defines woman as a being who affirms her own identity, and, to carry a distinctly female voice, undertakes a range of new formal experiments rather than reaching for the familiar poetic language she once used.
Kim has also built a systematic poetics of women’s poetry through works such as Yeoseongi geureul sseundaneun geoseun (여성이 글을 쓴다는 것은 What It Means for a Woman to Write), Yeoseong, sihada (여성, 시하다 Woman, Poeticizing), and Yeojajimseung asia hagi (여자짐승아시아하기 Womanbeast Asia-ing). While her poetics belongs within the broader category of “ecriture feminine,” it distinguishes itself through its engagement with shamanic imagination within an Asian context. In her words, “Above all, women’s poetry invents the form of woman. A way of speaking different from the one that has been handed down. What one says matters, but how one says it is the very invention of a feminist utterance.” In this spirit, she pursues the practice of ecriture feminine.
Reference
Poetry collections and anthologies
《또 다른 별에서》(문학과지성사, 1981) / Tto dareun byeoreseo (From Another Star), Moonji, 1981
《아버지가 세운 허수아비》(문학과지성사, 1985) / Abeojiga seun heosuabi (The Scarecrow My Father Erected), Moonji, 1985
《우리들의 음화(陰畫)》(문학과지성사, 1987) / Urideurui eumhwa (Our Negatives), Moonji, 1987
《어느 별의 지옥》(청하, 1988) / The Hell of That Star, Wesleyan University Press, 2026
《나의 우파니샤드, 서울》(문학과지성사 1994) / Naui upanisyadeu, Seoul (My Upanishad, Seoul), Moonji, 1994
《불쌍한 사랑 기계》(문학과지성사, 1997) / Poor Love Machine, Action Books, 2016
《달력 공장 공장장님 보세요》(문학과지성사, 2000) / Dallyeok gongjangjangnim boseyo (To the Calendar Factory Manager), Moonji, 2000
《한 잔의 붉은 거울》(문학과지성사, 2004) / A Drink of Red Mirror, Action Books, 2019
《당신의 첫》(문학과지성사, 2008) / Dangsinui cheot (Your First), Moonji, 2008
《슬픔치약 거울크림》(문학과지성사, 2011) / Sorrowtoothpaste Mirrorcream, Action Books, 2014
《피어라 돼지》(문학과지성사, 2016) / I’m OK, I’m Pig!, Bloodaxe Books, 2014
《죽음의 자서전》(문학실험실, 2016) / Autobiography of Death, New Directions, 2018
《날개 환상통》(문학과지성사, 2019) / Phantom Pain Wings, New Directions, 2023
《지구가 죽으면 달은 누굴 돌지?》(문학과지성사, 2022) / Jiguga jugeumyeon dareun nugul dolji? (If the Earth Dies, Who Will the Moon Orbit?), Moonji, 2022
(co-authored) 《한글세대 시인과 시》(평민사, 1985) / Hangeul sedae siingwa si (Poets and Poetry of the Hangul Generation), Pyeongminsa, 1985
(co-authored) 《그대 말씀으로》(지양사, 1986) / Geudae malsseumeuro (Through Your Word), Jiyangsa, 1986
(co-authored) 《21+1》(청하, 1987) / 21+1, Cheongha, 1987
(co-authored) 《(여성해방 시 모음)하나보다 더 좋은 백의 얼굴이어라》(또 하나의 문화, 1988) / (Yeoseong haebang si moeum) Hanaboda deo joeun baegui eolgurieora (Women's Liberation Poetry Collection: A Hundred Faces Are Better Than One), Alternative Culture, 1988
(co-authored) 《세계의 포탄(砲彈)이 모두 별이 된다면》(삼진기획, 1988) / Segyeui potani modu byeori doendamyeon (If All the World's Cannonballs Became Stars), Samjin Gihoek, 1988
(co-authored) 《'95 한국문학작품선 : 시.시조》(한국문화예술진흥원, 1994) / '95 Hanguk munhak jakpumseon: Si, sijo (Selected Works of Korean Literature '95: Poetry and Sijo), Korean Culture and Arts Foundation, 1994
(co-authored) 《그날 나는 슬픔도 배불렀다》(진음, 1994) / Geunal naneun seulpeumdo baebulleotda (That Day I Was Full Even of Sorrow), Jineum, 1994
(co-authored) 《('95 현장비평가가 뽑은)올해의 좋은 시(詩)》(현대문학, 1996) / ('95 Hyeonjang bipyeongaga ppobeun) Olhaeui joeun si (Good Poems of the Year, Selected by Working Critics, '95), Hyundae Munhak, 1996
(co-authored) 《7대문학상수상시인대표작 1998》(작가정신, 1998) / 7-dae munhaksang susang siin daepyojak 1998 (Representative Works of Seven Major Literary Award-Winning Poets, 1998), Jakga Jungsin, 1998
(co-authored) 《'97 한국문학작품선 : 시.시조》(한국문화예술진흥원, 1998) / '97 Hanguk munhak jakpumseon: Si, sijo (Selected Works of Korean Literature '97: Poetry and Sijo), Korean Culture and Arts Foundation, 1998
(co-authored) 《(제15회)소월시문학상 작품집》(문학사상사, 2000) / (Je 15-hoe) Sowol si munhaksang jakpumjip (15th Sowol Poetry Award Anthology), Munhak Sasangsa, 2000
(co-authored) 《(2006) 제6회 미당문학상 수상작품집》(랜덤하우스코리아, 2006) / (2006) Je 6-hoe Midang munhaksang susang jakpumjip (6th Midang Literary Award Anthology, 2006), Random House Korea, 2006
(co-authored) 《(2006 '작가'가 선정한) 오늘의 시》(작가, 2006) / (2006 'Jakga'-ga seonjeonghan) Oneurui si (Today's Poetry as Selected by “Jakga,” 2006), Jakga, 2006
(co-authored) 《(현장비평가가 뽑은 2007) 올해의 좋은시》(현대문학, 2007) / (Hyeonjang bipyeonga-ga ppobeun 2007) Olhae-ui joeun si (Good Poems of the Year as Selected by Working Critics, 2007), Hyundae Munhak, 2007
(co-authored) 《(현장비평가가 뽑은 2009) 올해의 좋은 시》(현대문학, 2009) / (Hyeonjang bipyeongaga ppobeun 2009) Olhaeui joeun si (Good Poems of the Year, Selected by Working Critics, 2009), Hyundae Munhak, 2009
(co-authored) 《서울과 노동시》(실천문학, 2010) / Seoulgwa nodongsi (Seoul and Labor Poetry), Silcheon Munhak, 2010
(co-authored) 《(현장비평가가 뽑은 2010) 올해의 좋은 시》 (현대문학, 2010) / (Hyeonjang bipyeongaga ppobeun 2010) Olhaeui joeun si (Good Poems of the Year, Selected by Working Critics, 2010), Hyundae Munhak, 2010
(co-authored) 《왜 사랑하느냐고 묻거든 : 우리 시대 시인 57인이 노래한 사랑의 신작시》(문학사상, 2012) / Wae saranghaneunyago mutgeodeun: Uri sidae siin 57-in-i noraehan sarangui sinjaksi (If Asked Why I Love: New Love Poems Sung by 57 Poets of Our Era), Munhak Sasang, 2012
(co-authored) 《온몸으로 밀고 나가는 것이다 : 김수영 문학상 수상작 대표 시 선집》(민음사, 2014) / Onmomeuro milgo naganeun geosida: Kim Su-Young munhaksang susangjak daepyo si seonjip (To Push Forward with One's Whole Body: Selected Representative Poems from Kim Su-Young Literary Award Winners), Minumsa, 2014
(co-authored) 《순간을 읊조리다 : 삶의 빈칸을 채우는 그림하나 시하나》(세계사, 2014) / Sunganeul eupjorida: Salmui binkaneul chaeuneun geurim hana si hana (Reciting a Moment: One Picture, One Poem to Fill the Blanks of Life), Segyesa, 2014
(co-authored) 《내 인생에 힘이 되어준 시》(북카라반, 2016) / Nae insaenge himi doeeojun si (The Poems That Gave Strength to My Life), Book Caravan, 2016
(co-authored) 《별이 빛나는 밤 : 우리시대의 시인》(시와반시, 2017) / Byeori binnaneun bam: Uri sidaeui siin (A Starlit Night: Poets of Our Era), The Poetry and Anti Poetry, 2017
(co-authored) 《시인의 시작 : 한국시 100년, 100인의 등단작》(미디어창비, 2019) / Siinui sijak: Hanguksi 100-nyeon, 100 inui deungdanjak (The Poet's Beginning: 100 Years of Korean Poetry, 100 Debut Works), Media Changbi, 2019
(co-authored) 《(2020 ‘작가’가 선정한) 오늘의 시》(작가, 2020) / (2020 'Jakga'-ga seonjeonghan) Oneurui si (Today's Poetry as Selected by 'Jakga', 2020), Jakga, 2020
(co-authored) 《형평운동 100주년 100인 문집》(형평문학선양사업회, 2023) / Hyeongpyeong undong 100-junyeon 100-in munjip (100-Person Literary Anthology for the 100th Anniversary of the Equality Movement), Hyeongpyeong Munhak Seonyang Saeopoe, 2023
Poetics
《여성이 글을 쓴다는 것은》, 문학동네, 2002 / Yeoseongi geureul sseundaneun geoseun (What It Means for a Woman to Write), Munhakdongne, 2002
《여성, 시하다》, 문학과지성사, 2017 / Yeoseong, sihada (Woman, Poeticizing), Moonji, 2017
《여자짐승아시아하기》, 문학과지성사, 2019 / Yeojajimseung asia hagi (Womanbeast Asia-ing), Moonji, 2019
Essays
《장미의 이름으로 떠나는 작은 여행》, 1991 / Jangmiui ireumeuro tteonaneun jageun yeohaeng (A Brief Journey in the Name of the Rose), 1991
《들끓는 사랑》, 학고재, 1996 / Deulkkeunneun sarang (Seething Love), Hakgojae, 1996
(co-authored) 《괴로운 사람은 누군가를 사랑하고 있다》(책나무, 1989) / Goeroun sarameun nugungareul saranghago itda (A Person in Pain Is Loving Someone), Chaeknamu, 1989
(co-authored) 《너의 창을 두드리고 싶을 때》(미학사, 1990) / Neoui changeul dudeurigo sipeul ttae (When I Want to Knock on Your Window), Mihaksa, 1990
(co-authored) 《메마른 삶의 간이역에서》(동해, 1990) / Memareun salmui ganiyeogeseo (At a Wayside Station of a Parched Life), Donghae, 1990
Children’s books
《마음 속의 잉카》, 한양출판, 1995 / Maeumsogui Ingka (The Inca in Our Hearts), Hanyang Publishing, 1995
《구름 할머니의 콧구멍》, 보림, 2021 / Gureum halmeoniui kotgumeong (The Cloud Grandmother's Nostrils), Borim, 2021
Miscellaneous
《낮게 나는 새가 자세히 본다》, 책나무, 1991 / Natge naneun saega jasehi bonda (The Bird That Flies Low Sees More Closely), Chaeknamu, 1991
《김수영 : 세계의 개진과 자유의 이행》, 건국대학교출판부, 1995 / Kim Su-Young: Segyeui gaejingwa jayuui ihaeng (Kim Su-Young: The Opening of the World and the Practice of Freedom), Konkuk University Press, 1995
《않아는 이렇게 말했다》, 문학동네, 2016 / Ananeun ireoke malhaetda (This Is What “Not” Said), Munhakdongne, 2016
《지구가 죽으면 달은 누굴 돌지?》, 문학과지성사, 2022 / Jiguga jugeumyeon dareun nugul dolji? (If the Earth Dies, Who Will the Moon Orbit?), Moonji, 2022
《김혜순의 말》, 마음산책, 2023 / Kim Hyesoonui mal (Kim Hyesoon's Words), Maumsanchaek, 2023
(co-authored) 《미운 사람은 배꼽도 밉다 : 젊은 시인 25인이 쓴 사랑꽁트》(책나무, 1990) / Miun sarameun baekkopdo mipta: Jeolmeun siin 25 ini sseun sarangkkongteu (Even the Navel of a Hateful Person Is Hateful: Love Vignettes by 25 Young Poets), Chaeknamu, 1990
(co-authored) 《오정희 문학앨범 : 존재의 심연과 회상의 형식》(웅진출판, 1995) / Oh Junghee munhak aelbeom: Jonjaeui simyeongwa hoesangui hyeongsik (Oh Junghee Literary Album: The Abyss of Existence and the Form of Recollection), Woongjin Publishing, 1995
(co-authored) 《몸속에 별이 뜬다》(윤컴, 1998) / Momsoge byeori tteunda (Stars Rise in the Body), Yooncom, 1998
(co-authored) 《설악산은 어디로 가는가》(윤컴, 1998) / Seoraksaneun eodirо ganeunga (Where Does Seoraksan Go?), Yooncom, 1998
(co-authored) 《21세기 문학이란 무엇인가》(민음사, 1999) / 21 segi munhagiran mueosinga (What Is Literature in the 21st Century?), Minumsa, 1999
(co-authored) 《새로운 환경 속의 문학과 독자》(민음사, 2017) / Saeroun hwangyeong sogui munhakgwa dokja (Literature and Readers in a New Environment), Minumsa, 2017
(co-authored) 《한국 작가가 읽은 세계문학》(문학동네, 2018) / Hanguk jakgaga ilgeun segye munhak (World Literature Read by Korean Writers), Munhakdongne, 2018
(co-authored) 《소통과 평화의 플랫폼》(한국문학번역원, 2019) / Sotonggwa pyeonghwaui peullaetpom (A Platform for Communication and Peace), LTI Korea, 2019
(co-authored) 《감히, 아름다움 : 우리 삶의 아름다움을 찾아가는 열한 갈래의 길》(이음, 2022) / Gamhi, areumdaum: Uri salmui areumdaumeul chajaganeun yeolhan gallaеui gil (Dare, Beauty: Eleven Paths in Search of the Beauty of Our Lives), Eum, 2022
(co-authored) 《카프카, 카프카 : 프란츠 카프카 타계 100년》(나남, 2024) / Kappeuka, Kappeuka: Peuranteu Kappeuka tagye 100-nyeon (Kafka, Kafka: 100 Years Since the Death of Franz Kafka), Nanam, 2024
(co-authored) 《후이늠 : 검은 인화지에 남긴 흰 그림자》(대한출판문화협회, 2024) / Huineum: Geomeun inhwajie namgin huin geurimja (Houyhnhnm: White Shadows Left on Black Photographic Paper), Korean Publishers Association, 2024
Reference
Kim Eun-seok, “The Political Ecology of ‘Bewitched Femininity’: Focused on Kim Hyesoon’s Poems from the 1980s,” The Korean Poetics Studies 72, Korean Poetics Society, 2022.
Cho Yeonjung, "What It Means for a 'Female Poet' to Write Poetry: Rereading Kim Hyesoon's Early Poetry from the Perspective of 1980s 'Women's Liberation Literature,'" Journal of Korean Modern Literature 69, Society of Korean Modern Literature, 2019.
Choe Seon-gyo, "A Study of Kim Hyesoon's Poetics: On the Formation and Poetic Aspects of Women's Poetry," Ph.D. dissertation, Korea University, 2023.
LTI Korea 
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