Kim Hee-seon, and critic Seo Young-chae are taking a commemorative photo holding their respective books at the Daesan Cultural Foundation’s press conference for the Daesan Literary Award winners held at the Kyobo Building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul on the 5th. Yonhap News”/>
Poet Kang Eun-kyo (from left), writer Kim Hee-seon, and critic Seo Young-chae are taking a commemorative photo holding their respective books at the Daesan Cultural Foundation’s press conference for the Daesan Literary Award winners held at the Kyobo Building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul on the 5th. Yonhap News
“In this noisy world, I believe it is my duty to listen to those with small voices and those who have no voices and to write down their words equally. “They are the first thing that came to mind when I came here.”
Author Kim Hee-seon was selected as the winner of the Daesan Literary Award in the novel category. On the 5th, the Daesan Cultural Foundation held a press conference at the Kyobo Building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul and announced the winners of the 32nd Daesan Literary Award.
In the poetry category, poet Kang Eun-gyo was selected, in the criticism category, critic Seo Young-chae of and in the translation category, Alvaro Trigo Maldonado, who translated author Jeong Bo-ra’s into Spanish, was selected.
Author Kim Hee-seon’s work dynamically unfolds the imagination of viruses and tells the story of patient number 247 of the variant Nipah virus becoming a scapegoat for a group and being expelled from the Earth. The novel evokes the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and asks about things we need to worry about, such as control and censorship for public health, a system that sacrifices individuals, and the culling of animals for safety. The judges commented, “It makes us reflect on the tendency to get excited too easily depending on the atmosphere, take sides, otherize those who are not on one side, and try to make a scapegoat, as well as the importance of ecological investigation related to the imagination of the virus.”
Poet Kang’s collection of poems follows the series of poems ‘Biridegi’s Travel Songs’ published in the poet’s first collection of poems published in 1971. ‘Aunt Dango Magi’, which appears in the second part of the award-winning poetry collection, is a character who evokes the ‘Danggeumaegi’ tale and is also connected to ‘Biridegi’, which is a variation of the ‘Baridegi’ tale, in that an abandoned woman appears. The judges said, “After a long time since her first collection of poems, in this collection of poems, Eungyo Kang creates a new character called ‘Aunt Dango Magi’ by transforming the character from the ‘Danggeumaegi’ folktale, who conceives life and lives despite being violated and abandoned.” I commented. In his acceptance speech, poet Kang said, “If you only write the inner story of the self, it will not be a poem,” and added, “I think that when literature and society are united, a hug that combines the inside and the outside, a poem that can give empathy and warmth will be created. “I plan to continue down that path in the future,” he said.
Regarding critic Seo Young-chae’s , the judging panel said, “The serious and honest reviews about Kim Yun-sik and Jo Dong-il are particularly impressive. They show the quality of criticism that only those with a broad mind can reach beyond confrontation and criticism while looking at the whole.” commented. Regarding Álvaro Trigo Maldonado’s Spanish translation, the reason for selection was stated, “Different genres lead to different writing styles and different words, but the task was successfully performed within the possible range.”
The Daesan Literary Award is a comprehensive literary award run by the Daesan Cultural Foundation (Chairman Shin Chang-jae). Awards are given in the poetry, novel, and translation categories every year, and the play and criticism categories are awarded every other year. This year, the winners of the criticism category were announced. The awards ceremony will be held on the 28th of this month at the President Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. The winners will each receive a prize of 50 million won and a plaque with the bronze sculpture ‘Pine Tree’ by sculptor Yang Hwa-seon. This year’s winning works will be translated into major foreign languages and introduced overseas through the Daesan Cultural Foundation’s translation support contest next year.
