Anxiety of Words: Contemporary Poetry by Korean Women

Ch'oe Sung-ja (b. 1952) is one of the most well-known and highly regarded contemporary women poets of South Korea. In 1979, Ch'oe became the first woman poet to be published in a literary journal. Ch'oe's poetry violated the criteria of decorum that had been long imposed on women poets. She is a member of Another Culture (Ttohana ui munhwa), which emerged in the 1980s and has played a critical role in feminist literary research and publication, including development of women's studies in South Korea. Kim teaches creative writing and Korean poetry at Seoul College of Arts. Yi's first book of poetry, A Night Market Where There Are Prostitutes, was published by Sekyesa, a well-known literary press in South Korea. Yi's second collection of poems was published in 1993 after her death. Yi committed suicide in 1992. Yi's poetry has a critical place in the feminist poetry of the 1980s. Literary translator and scholar of contemporary Korean literature, Don Mee has received grants from the Korean Literature Translation Institute, Seoul and the Sunshik Min Endowment for the Advancement of Korean Literature.