First English-language collection from a leading poet in South Korea.

Kim Haengsook is one South Korea's most eminent contemporary poets, but a complete collection of her poems has never appeared in English before now. This selection draws on her work across her career and five books in Korean. Haengsook's poetic spaces are shrouded in a magic fog that is clarifying instead of obscuring. Built out of a language that incorporates a strategy of what she calls "precise ambiguity," her work radiates outward like great waves whose philosophical rhythm you can't help but get caught in.

About the Author

Kim Haengsook is one of the best-known Korean contemporary poets. Her books include Adolescence (2003), The Goodbye Ability (2007), and What Errands Are You Running? (2020), which won the prestigious Daesan Literary Award in South Korea. She is a professor at Kangnam University.

Jake Levine is a poet, translator, and scholar. He has authored, translated, or cotranslated over a dozen books, including Kim Yideum's Hysteria (Action Books 2019), which received the National Translation Award and Lucien Stryk Prize. His first full-length collection of poems is The Imagined Country, forthcoming from Tolsun Books in 2023. He teaches creative writing at Keimyung University and edits the Korean poetry series Moon Country for Black Ocean.

Susan K studied English Literature and Linguistics at the University of Toronto. After spending years teaching English and managing people who teach English, she decided to walk the cold and lonely path of a freelance translator. She completed the Literature Translation fellowship program and the Media Translation fellowship program at the Literature Translation Institute of Korea and currently works as a full-time translator of poetry, webcomics, movies, and pretty much anything that interests her. She has also received a grant from the LTI to translate Park Soran's poetry collection, One Person's Closed Door. She loves all animals, but especially dogs; she loves all books, but especially mystery thrillers.

Leo-Thomas Brylowski graduated with a BA from the University of British Columbia and went on to complete the two-year LTI Korea Translation Academy fellowship program in Seoul. He was the Grand Prize recipient of the Korea Times Modern Korean Literature Translation Award in 2019 for his translation of Lee Kiho's short story "Choe Mijin, Where Have You Gone?" and has also received a grant from LTI Korea in 2020 for the translation of a novel by author Park Young. He is based in Seoul and works full-time as a webtoon (online comics) translator.

Hannah Quinn Hertzog graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in Korean, Asian languages and literature, and computer science, then went on to complete both the two-year fellowship program and the summer-long Media Translation fellowship program at the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. In 2020, she received the Grand Prize at the 51st Korea Times Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards for her translation of Kim Un-su's short story "Jab," as well as the LTI Korea Translation Award for Aspiring Translators for her translation of Hwang Jung-eun's short story "Gravedig." She currently works full-time as a software engineer in Seoul.

Joanne Park studied history at Yonsei University and finished the regular course program at LTI Korea. She lives with her cat in Seoul.

Soohyun Yang is a freelance translator and interpreter. Her translations have appeared in Modern Poetry in Translation (2016); Korean Literature Now (Winter 2019); and The Poems of Hwang Yuwon, Ha Jaeyoun, and Seo Daekyung (Vagabond Press, 2020); Seoul Wowbook Festival (2017); and Gothenburg Book Fair (2019).

Soeun Seo (she/they) is a poet and translator from South Korea and a recent graduate of the Michener Center for Writers. Their poems and translations have appeared in such venues as Hayden's Ferry Review, Korean Literature Now, Guernica, and Black Warrior Review, among others. They cotranslated Hysteria by Kim Yideum, which won the Lucien Stryk Award and the National Translation Award. Their latest translation, Beautiful and Useless by Kim Min Jeong, cotranslated with Jake Levine, was also published by Black Ocean.

Jiyoon Lee lives in Texas, likes hippy stuff, sings in a band, and she likes dancing in the morning. Currently, she is busy learning how to become a small, fluffy white dog.

Reviews
"Chosen by the poet from books she has published during the past two decades, Human Time spans the voices the poet has engaged with. Whether in the sky or underground, vanishing staircase or field trip . . . the urgency of what is being said is the music we have been longing to hear. As the poet tells us: 'Time, we're always in the thick of it.' I think we would be derelict if we did not join her there." -John Yau



Book Information
ISBN 9781939568694
Author Haengsook Kim
Format Paperback
Page Count 120
Imprint Black Ocean
Publisher Black Ocean