Three poets. Three translators. One conversation.

We invite you to join us for an evening of bilingual poetry readings. Three poets - Moon Bo Young, Kim Liyoun, Kim Sono - along with three translators - Soje, Eunice Lee, Jenny Jisun Kim - explore the power of language to connect us with one another.

Not as well known to many audiences, Korean poetry contains a rich and vibrant tradition that is yet to be understood. It is through the exchanging of dialogue, breath, and verse that the moment of Korean poetry is revealed.

This program is a collaboration between The Korea Society’s Arts and Culture Department and Education Department and is moderated by Education Program Officer, Amanda Grant.

During the event, poetry collections written by all three poets will be given out in a special raffle event for in-person participants.

The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

About the Speakers:

Moon Bo Young is a poet and essayist. She made her debut by winning the New Literary Award of Joongang newspaper in 2016. Her first collection of poems Pillar of Books won the Kim Soo Young Prize in 2017 and was translated into English in 2021. She published a collection of stories titled The Hill of Yawn and several essay collections, namely The Best Long Run, I threw away today because I was anxious, The era of Diary, and The Kindest Way to Hate People. Her second collection of poems was titled The Battle Ground. She also launched a subscription service called Diary Postal Delivery. The service sends out various texts, such as poems, diaries, and novels, all handwritten and mailed directly to readers' homes. Her third collection of poems Sand bookstore has recently been published.

Soje is a poet and a translator. Soje is known for the translation of Lee Hyemi’s Unexpected Vanilla (Tilted Axis Press, 2020), Choi Jin-young’s To the Warm Horizon (Honford Star, 2021), and Lee Soho’s Catcalling (Open Letter Books, 2021). They also make chogwa, an e-zine that features one Korean poem and multiple English translations per issue.

Kim Sono is a poet, essayist, and multimedia artist. They have published two poetry collections, Night Soccer (2020) and The Film Set (2022), and the essay collection Rubato for the Unknown (2022). They currently write for Weekly Munhak, and have collaborated with Platform L, WINDMILL, Villa Hamilton, and the Suwon Museum of Art on various multimedia projects. They have also written lyrics for the K-pop band TOMORROW X TOGETHER.

Eunice Lee is a researcher, translator, and poet. Her translations of Korean poetry have appeared in The Margins (Asian American Writers' Workshop), Asymptote Journal, chogwa, Circumference, Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture, Columbia Journal, and more. She is a Ph.D. candidate in English at Harvard University.

Kim Liyoun is a poet, writer, and visual artist. She is the author of the poetry collection Transparency Blend Space (2022) and the interdisciplinary essay collection Soft Materials (forthcoming 2024). She had her debut solo exhibition New Hands (2023) at RE:PLAT. Her poems, essays, and multi-sensory performances have been featured in various exhibitions at the National Museum of Modern Art, Korea (MMCA), Leeum Museum of Art, and Minbokjin Museum of Art Yangju City.

Jenny Jisun Kim is a visual artist and translator. She was the winner of Charm Agency’s 2022 Emerging Translator Prize, and she is currently translating Jaewon Che’s How do u want me? (working title) with the support of the American Literary Translators Association mentorship program. She also translates Korean art texts for DOOSAN Art Center and Ilmin Museum of Art.