Recipient of the 2026 Arts Council Korea Literature Fellowship
"Newborn longing that grows in the void" —From "First Snow" in Becoming You in Front of Countless Other Yous (Siindongne, 2020)
Lee Song Hee is a poet who stands in solidarity with all of the overlooked and excluded, filling the void of deprivation and hurt with her literary gaze.
1. Life
Lee Song Hee was born in 1976 in Gwangju. Her childhood was marked by deprivation and frequently uprooted due to her father's illness but she was already set upon a literary path, reading and writing on her own. She was particularly fascinated by the lives of famous authors and artists, in sublimating existential pain into humanistic thought, which became the soil of her poetic philosophy concerned with social injustice and sympathy for the vulnerable. Throughout her education, Lee combined her studies with writing and made her literary debut in 2003, winning the Chosun Ilbo New Writer's Award. She obtained her doctorate in literature in 2007 and has pursued an active career in writing and criticism, focusing on how to convey loss and social commentary through the restrained beauty of modern sijo.
Lee currently teaches literature and writing at Chonnam National University, combining teaching with her creative work. She continues to be active in literary circles such as 21st Century and the Gwangju Literature Academy, winning such accolades as the Joongang Sijo Award, Gosan Prize for Literature, and Today's Sijo Literary Award. The poet remains dedicated to the scholar's life of reading and writing, attempting to convey the suffering of this age within the restraints of sijo.
2. Writing
Lee Song Hee is considered to have expanded the horizons of sijo by combining critical social commentary that retains a lyric sensibility, bringing a modern flair to the formulaic beauty of the genre. While still upholding the tone of traditional lyricism, the poet brings an eagle eye to the existential struggle and absurd realities of modern life permeated by a sense of inescapable loss. Her work in widening the scope of modern sijo in terms of subject matter and form has been recognized by such awards as the Joongang Sijo Award, Gosan Prize for Literature, and Today's Sijo Literary Award.
Her first collection, Transitional Season Prints, captures the tragedy of life from daily scenes imprinted in meticulous detail, showcasing a "phenomenology of the memory." Forest of Aporia depicts the angst of those facing an existential dead end while fighting to find a way out of such despair. The Archeology of Names fills in the gaps of historical imagination, excavating specific historical facts behind names from history. The poet's social solidarity is even more evident in Becoming You in Front of Countless Other Yous, where she emphasizes the role of morality and sympathy in transcending one's self to truly connect with others. This school of thought is continued in Pronouns, which triumphs at recounting the candid struggles of the ordinary protagonists of this age with humor and pathos in a modern take on narrative sijo. I Push My Words Forward and Your Words Follow concerns itself with the mutual subjectivity of language, which the poet attempts to overcome with words resonating with those of others.
Thus the trajectory of Lee's work expands infinitely from personal reflection to embracing the travails of others, society, and life itself. Working within the constraints of traditional form, she fully captures the dread and pain of this age with humanistic warmth and insight, upholding the value of solidarity with others.
Reference
Poems & Selected Works
Transitional Season Prints 환절기의 판화 (Goyo Achim 고요아침, 2009)
Forest of Aporia 아포리아 숲 (Chaekjip 책만드는집, 2011)
The Archeology of Names 이름의 고고학 (Chaekjip 책만드는집, 2015)
Italy Myeon Office 이태리 면사무소 (Goyo Achim 고요아침, 2016)
Becoming You in Front of Countless Other Yous 수많은 당신들 앞에 또 다른 당신이 되어 (Siindongne 시인동네, 2020)
Pronouns 대명사들 (Dainsoop 다인숲, 2024)
I Push My Words Forward and Your Words Follow 내 말을 밀고 가면 너의 말이 따라오고 (Jakga Publishing Co. 작가, 2024)
(Co-author) National Route 1 (공저) 광목 간 도로 (Goyo Achim 고요아침, 2020)
Criticism
Adaline's Room 아달린의 방 (새미, 2013)
Sentences on the Road 길 위의 문장 (Goyo Achim 고요아침, 2014)
Border Poetics 경계의 시학 (Goyo Achim 고요아침, 2017)
Mirrors and the Gaze 거울과 응시 (Korean Studies Archive 새미, 2021)
Nomad Narratives 유목의 서사 (deopureun 더푸른, 2022)
(Essays) P.O. Box of Tears (산문) 눈물로 읽는 사서함 (Korean Studies Archive 북치는마을, 2011)
(Co-author) 2015 Good Sijo of the Year (공저) 2015 올해의 좋은시조 (Prunsasang 푸른사상, 2015)
(Editor) 156 Korean Dan Sijo (엮음) 한국의 단시조156 (Chaekjip 책만드는집, 2015)
Scholarly Works
Modern Poetry and Cognitive Poetics 현대시와 인지시학 (Korean Studies Archive 국학자료원, 2018)
(Co-author) Ki Hyongdo (공저) 기형도 (Geulnurim 글누림, 2011)
(Co-author) Understanding Korean Literature (공저) 한국문학의 이해 (Kyungin Publishing 경인문화사, 2019)
(Co-author) Memory of Speech (공저) 말의 기억 (Pasongmosong 파종모종, 2023)
(Co-author) Writing for Humanities Majors (공저) 인문사회 계열을 위한 글쓰기 (Chonnam National University Press전남대학교 출판부, 2024)
Reference
유성호, <근원적 기억과 현실 감각의 깊은 결속>, 환절기의 판화 , 고요아침, 2009.
이승하, <현실 사회의 아픔을 보듬는 시인의 따뜻한 눈길>, 아포리아 숲 , 책만드는집, 2011.
고명철, <어둠의 벼랑 끝에 선 간절한 말들>, 이름의 고고학 , 책만드는집, 2015.
이성혁, <사랑의 기억과 ‘사회적 서정시’>, 수많은 당신들 앞에 또 다른 당신이 되어 , 시인 동네, 2020.
김학중, <시적 언어의 우정, 그 미약한 촛불에 대하여>, 대명사들 , 다인숲, 2024.
이정현, <경쾌한 언어로 적은 주관적인 기억>, 내 말을 밀고 가면 너의 말이 따라오고 , 작가, 2024.
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