Ra Heeduk
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Ra Heeduk (, born 1966) is a South Korean poet. She debuted in 1989 with her poem "To the Roots". She received many literary awards such as the
Kim Suyeong Literary Award The Kim Suyeong Literary Award is a List of literary awards, literary award established in 1981 by :ko:민음사, Minumsa in honor of the South Korean poet Kim Su-yeong. Prizewinners References

{{Kim Suyeong Literary Award winners South K ...
, Contemporary Literature Award,
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. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and border ...
, and the
Daesan Literary Awards The Daesan Literary Awards () are one of the most prestigious literary awards in South Korea. Prizes are awarded annually to selected works of poetry, fiction, drama, literary criticism, and translation. As of 2016, each prize includes a monetary ...
.


Early life and education

Ra was born in
Nonsan Nonsan (; ) is a city in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. It is located at . The origin of Nonsan's geographical names is said to have come from the small garden " Nolmoe, " which rises in the middle of farming fields, where rice paddie ...
,
South Chungcheong Province South Chungcheong Province (), informally called Chungnam, is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, province of South Korea in the Hoseo region in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula. South Chungcheong borders the provinces of Gyeonggi to ...
. She was raised in an orphanage in which her parents -
Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
who sought to carry out the teachings of their religion through
communal living An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, which may be political ...
- served on the administrative staff. She has confessed that the experience of living with orphans had made her a precocious child, and that the recognition of the difference between herself and her playmates early on gave her a unique perspective on the world. She became interested in poetry in middle school. While struggling between the religious ideals fostered by her parents and the causes upheld by the student movement she encountered in college, she found relief in poetry. She graduated from the Department of Korean Language and Literature at
Yonsei University Yonsei University () is a Private university, private Christian university, Christian research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Yonsei is one of the three most prestigious universities in the country, part of a group referred to as SK ...
with both Master's and Doctorate degrees.


Career

Ra debuted in 1989 after winning
JoongAng Ilbo ''The JoongAng'', formerly known as ''JoongAng Ilbo'' (), is a South Korean daily newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the three biggest newspapers in South Korea, and a newspaper of record for South Korea. The paper also pu ...
's New Writer's Award for her poem "To the Roots" (). She served as a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at
Chosun University Chosun University () is one of the oldest private universities in South Korea. Its campus is situated in Gwangju metropolitan city, in southwestern South Korea. Around 33,000 students are enrolled. Academics Undergraduate courses are offere ...
from 2001 to 2018. In 2007, she participated in the
International Writing Program The International Writing Program (IWP) is a writing residency for international artists in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Since 2014, the program offers online courses to many writers and poets around the world. Since its inception in 1967, the I ...
. She has served as a professor at
Seoul National University of Science and Technology Seoul National University of Science and Technology (abbreviated SeoulTech) is a national university located in Nowon District, Nowon-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Seoul National University of Science and Technology originated from Public Eoeudong ...
since 2019.


Artistry

Ra's work shows the "generosity and warmth of the heart", which is "motherly instinct or love" that contains a "critical consciousness of the contradiction and irrationality in life and reality". Kim Jin-soo wrote that the advantage of her poem is "concise and restrained linguistic form based on the reality of concrete sensory images". Her first collection of poems, ''To the Roots'' (, 1991), and her second, ''The Words Stained the Leaves'' (, 1994), pierce the fog of hypocrisy and contradictions cast over daily life while maintaining a spirit of forgiveness and warmth. In order to become receptive to nature, she believes it is necessary to "listen with her eyes and see with her ears." Such effort is detailed in her third collection of poetry, ''It's Not That Far From Here'' (, 1997), and her fourth, ''What Is Darkening'' (, 2001). She juxtaposes "sound" and "darkness" to signal the process of "listening" with the eyes when "seeing" becomes useless as darkness falls.


Work


Works in Korean


Poetry

* ''To the Roots'' (, 1991) * ''The Words Stained the Leaves'' (, 1994) * ''It's Not That Far from Here'' (, 1997) * ''What Is Darkening'' (, 2001) * ''A Missing Palm'' (, 2004) * ''Wild Apple'' (, 2009) * ''Time for These Horses To Return'' (, 2014) * ''To Her'' (, 2015) * ''File Name: Lyric Poem'' (파일명 서정시, 2018)


Prose

* ''A Half-Bucket of Water'' (, 1999) * ''Where Does Purple Come From?'' (, 2003) * ''Remember Those Lights'' (, 2012) * ''A Plate of Poems'' (, 2012) * ''I'm Going To Get There on Foot Step by Step'' (, 2017)


Compilations

* ''Morning Song, Evening Poetry'' (, 2008) * ''My Representative Poem'' (, 2012) * ''Na Huideok's Glass Bottle Letter'' (, 2013)


Works in English

* ''What Is Darkening'' (2007) - translated by Choi Jongyoll * ''Scale and Stairs: Selected Poems'' (2009) - translated by Christopher Merrill and Kim Won-Chung * ''Wild Apple'' (2015) - translated by William Parker and Youngsil Ji


Awards

*
Kim Suyeong Literary Award The Kim Suyeong Literary Award is a List of literary awards, literary award established in 1981 by :ko:민음사, Minumsa in honor of the South Korean poet Kim Su-yeong. Prizewinners References

{{Kim Suyeong Literary Award winners South K ...
(1998) * This Year's Young Artist Award (2001) * Contemporary Literature Prize (2003) * Isan Literature Prize (2005) *
Midang Literary Award Midang Literary Award () is established in June 2001 by the JoongAng Ilbo to honor the literary achievements of Seo Jeong-ju Seo Jeong-ju (; May 18, 1915 – December 24, 2000) was a Korean poet and academic who wrote under the art name Mi ...
(2014) * Baeseok Literary Award (2019)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Na, Huideok 1966 births 20th-century South Korean women writers 20th-century South Korean writers Living people People from Nonsan South Korean women poets International Writing Program alumni Midang Literary Award winners 21st-century South Korean women writers