Pak Hyeongjun (, born 1966) is a South Korean poet and university professor.

Life

Pak Hyeongjun was born in 1966 in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, South Korea. He graduated from the

Seoul Institute of the Arts Seoul Institute of the Arts is a prominent educational institution specializing in the Arts located in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The school has nurtured many graduates who are actively working in art related fields within Korea as w ...

with a degree in creative writing, then attended

Myongji University Myongji University () is a Private university, private, Christianity in Korea, Christian university founded in 1948 in South Korea. It provides higher education in the fields of engineering, sciences and humanities. It has two campuses: the Socia ...

for graduate school, where he earned his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

. While still relatively young Pak Hyeongjun moved from his countryside hometown of Jeongeup to Incheon, South Korea's third-most populated city after

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

and

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

. Pak confessed that this experience inspired him to begin writing poetry, saying that, while he was living in Incheon, he "felt often as if I was stagnant even though I was endlessly drifting. But I think that was what drove me to write poetry." At

, Pak Hyeongjun studied under the well-known poets

Oh Kyu-won Oh Kyu Won (; December 29, 1941 – February 2, 2007) was a South Korean writer."Oh Kyu Won" biographical PDF available at LTI Korea Library or online at: Biography Oh Kyu Won's original name was Oh Gyuok. Born on December 29, 1941 in Mirya ...

and

Choe Ha-rin Choi is a Korean family surname. As of the South Korean census of 2015, there were around 2.3 million people by this name in South Korea or roughly 4.7% of the population. In English-speaking countries, it is most often anglicized ''Choi'', an ...

. Pak began his literary career when his poem "The Strength of Furniture" () won the Korea Times New Writer's Award in 1991. He has also received the Dream and Poetry Literary Award (1996), the Dongsuh Literary Award (2002), the Contemporary Poetics Award (2005), the

Sowol Poetry Prize The Sowol Poetry Prize () is one of the most prestigious literary awards in South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing ...

(2009), and the Yuksa Poetry Award (2012). In 2014 he began working as a professor of

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literar ...

Dongguk University Dongguk University (Korean: 동국대학교, Hanja: 東國大學校) is a private, coeducational university in South Korea, fundamentally based on Buddhism. Established in 1906 as Myeongjin School (명진학교; 明進學校) by Buddhist pioneer ...

Writing

Pak Hyeongjun's work has been described as "reinterpreting the tradition of Korean lyric poetry in the most modern way." His first poetry collection, ''I Would Now Like To Talk About the Disappearance'' (, 1994), was very well received by critics. Much of his poetry focuses on time, on the past, present, and future, and on memory and loss of memory. His more recent poetry collection, ''The Burned House'' (, 2013), further expanded upon these topics.Hong Yonghui. “The Variation of Disappearance and Urgency, or the Wedding of Death.” ''Writer’s World'', Winter 2005.

Works

Poetry collections

* ''I Would Now Like To Talk About the Disappearance'' (, 1994) * ''A Mirror with a Scent of Bread'' (, 1997) * ''The Leaves Have Blossomed into the Water'' (, 2002) * ''Dance'' (, 2005) * ''I Cried at Every Thought of It'' (, 2011) * ''The Burned House'' (, 2013)

Essay collections

* ''The Pattern of the Evening'' (, 2003) * ''Hungry for Beauty'' (, 2007) * ''A Poem for You'' (, 2013) * ''The Note of Silence'' (, 2013)

Awards

* 1996 1st Dream and Poetry Literary Award * 2002 15th Dongsuh Literary Award * 2005 10th Contemporary Poetics Award * 2009 24th

* 2012 9th Yuksa Poetry Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pak, Hyeongjun 1966 births 20th-century South Korean poets 21st-century South Korean poets South Korean male poets Living people 20th-century male writers 21st-century male writers