In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 1955
- Birthplace
- Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea
- Country
- South Korea
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Autobiography of Death, Poor Love Machine and Phantom Pain Wings
- Poetry debut
- Five poems in 1979
- Korean collection
- Autobiography of Death, 2016
- English translator
- Don Mee Choi
- 2019 recognition
- International Griffin Poetry Prize
Why this life matters
Her work expanded the possibilities of feminist poetry in South Korea and brought a distinctive poetic practice to readers through several languages and publishing communities.
Timeline
Key moments
Birth
Born in Uljin.
Poetry debut
Published five poems in Literature and Intellect.
Early collection
From Yet Another Star appeared.
Korean collection
Autobiography of Death was published in Korean.
English edition and Griffin recognition
New Directions published Don Mee Choi’s translation in 2018; it became the 2019 International Winner.
Phantom Pain Wings
The NBCC’s 2023 award archive identifies the collection, translated by Don Mee Choi, as Poetry winner.
German edition recognised
HKW honoured Kim and translators Sool Park and Uljana Wolf for Autobiographie des Todes.
Literature was both study and practice
Kim Hyesoon was born in Uljin in 1955 and studied Korean literature, earning a doctorate at Konkuk University. LTI Korea dates her poetry debut to 1979, when five poems appeared in Literature and Intellect. Cordite’s contributor biography lists From Yet Another Star in 1981, followed by further books through the 1980s and 1990s. This was a sustained literary formation before the English editions that later attracted international prizes. Her career also encompasses essays, criticism and teaching, placing the making of poems alongside reflection on language and literary institutions. Her work in creative-writing education included an appointment at the Seoul Institute of the Arts beginning in 1989, according to LTI Korea’s Korean chronology.
Bodily language challenges prescribed roles
Kim’s work has been associated with an experimental feminist poetics in which the body is unstable, permeable and exposed to power. LTI Korea’s account emphasises language and images that resist the demand to make women’s experience decorous. Cordite likewise describes an interest in female bodily experience and everyday existence. This framing helps readers approach her formal choices without treating a poem’s speaking voice as a simple personal confession. It also locates gender within questions about literary language itself: what can be spoken, which experiences appear acceptable and how a poem can alter the terms on which a voice is heard.
A long bibliography preceded international prize attention
Collections including Seoul, My Upanishad, Poor Love Machine and A Cup of Red Mirror demonstrate the continuity of her writing before Autobiography of Death. Cordite’s bibliography gives Korean publication dates, while English publishers often list later translations or selections under related titles. Those dates describe different publication events. New Directions records a body of poetry translated into numerous languages and identifies Kim as the first woman to receive the Kim Su-yong and Midang awards. International recognition thus followed an established Korean career; it did not begin the writing practice or supply the first audience for her poems.
Autobiography of Death joins mourning to a larger structure
The Korean collection Autobiography of Death appeared in 2016. New Directions published Don Mee Choi’s English translation on 27 November 2018. Its description identifies a title sequence of forty-nine poems organised around days after death, followed by Face of Rhythm. Griffin’s judges related the work to the aftermath of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster. These descriptions locate collective loss beside individual pain and survival. They do not turn the title into a conventional life narrative or imply that one catastrophe exhausts the collection’s concerns. The full book remains the necessary object for a close reading of its sequence and voices.
Translation credit belongs within the award story
Griffin’s 2019 archive identifies Autobiography of Death as the International Winner and explicitly names Don Mee Choi as translator from the Korean written by Kim Hyesoon. That formulation preserves two creative roles. The National Book Critics Circle later named Phantom Pain Wings, also translated by Choi, its Poetry winner in the 2023 awards archive. The same title appears there as a finalist for the separate translation prize. Category and stage therefore matter as much as the book title. These records show a continuing relationship between poet and translator rather than a single isolated instance of international discovery.
A German translation created another distinct collaboration
In 2025 Haus der Kulturen der Welt honoured Autobiographie des Todes, identifying Kim alongside its German translators Sool Park and Uljana Wolf. HKW’s jury statement recognises the work of creating a poetic frame in German, a different collaboration from Choi’s English translation. The book can therefore have several international histories without those histories becoming interchangeable. Kim’s importance lies in an extended poetic inquiry into gender, language and death, supported by readers, editors and translators working across different contexts. Following the editions and credits makes those relationships visible while preserving the distinctiveness of her original Korean writing.
Sources for this section: [9]
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Kim Hyesoon
- Who translated Autobiography of Death into English?
- Don Mee Choi translated Kim Hyesoon’s Korean writing; New Directions dates its English paperback to 27 November 2018.
- Why do sources give different years for Autobiography of Death?
- The Korean original appeared in 2016, the New Directions English edition in 2018, the Griffin recognition in 2019 and the cited German edition in 2025.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Han Kang
Compare another Korean writer’s international reception through separately credited translations.
- Park Wan-suh
Explore a different generation’s treatment of women’s experience and social memory.
- Hwang Sok-yong
Compare the movement of Korean historical writing through English editions and prize records.
- Yi Sang
Compare an earlier Korean poet’s experiments with literary form.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Literature Translation Institute of KoreaKim Hyesoon: writer record, Life and Writing
Read Life, Korean chronology and identity metadata. No exact birth day is supplied; the profile uses the verified year.
- 2. Cordite Poetry ReviewKim Hyesoon: contributor biography
Read contributor biography and Korean bibliography, including the 1981 collection; the page is a historical career snapshot.
- 3. New Directions PublishingKim Hyesoon: author and works record
Read author biography and work/translation credits, without adopting promotional superlatives.
- 4. National Assembly Library, Republic of KoreaJugeumui jaseojeon: MONO12025000000654 catalogue record
Read the catalogue fields: Seoul, Munhaksilhumsil, 2016; the held copy is a 2024 sixth printing. The physical book was not inspected.
- 5. New Directions PublishingAutobiography of Death: edition data and description
Read the edition data and publisher description; no complete collection or download was read.
- 6. Griffin Poetry PrizeKim Hyesoon: 2019 International Winner and judges’ citation
Read biographical statement and judges’ citation; selected poems were not used for a close reading or reproduced.
- 7. Griffin Poetry Prize2019 finalists and winners: International Winner credits
Read the 2019 International Winner author/translator credit; no prize-money split is asserted.
- 8. National Book Critics Circle2023 awards: Poetry winner and translation finalist
Checked HTML Winner/Finalist classes: Poetry winner and translation-prize finalist are distinct entries.
- 9. Haus der Kulturen der WeltAutobiographie des Todes: 2025 winners, jury statement and edition credits
Read the German winner heading, jury statement, biographies and 2025 S. Fischer edition credit; the German book was not read.
