Suji Kwock Kim is a Korean-American-British poet and playwright.

Early life and education

Kim's parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were all born in what is now North Korea. Her maternal great-grandfather co-founded 조선어학회, the Korean Language Society, during the Japanese occupation of Korea. He later became a linguistics professor and dean 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 ...

in Seoul. Kim was educated at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, the

University of Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2. ...

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

and

, where she was a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

, and

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where she was a Wallace Stegner Fellow.

Career

Kim's work has been published in ''

Best American Poetry ''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems. Background The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the genera ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'', ''

Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Republic of Ireland, Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork (city), Cork, though it is ...

'', ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'', ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'', ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

'', ''

London Magazine ''The London Magazine'' is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and poetry. A number of Nobel Laureates, including Annie Ernaux, Albert Camus, Doris L ...

'', '' Poetry London'', ''

Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

'', recorded for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

(https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001r1cf, "Notes from Utopia, Inc." at 29:50, and https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001rhkj, "Sono" at 29:35),

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Genoa, Radio Free Amsterdam, Poetry Unbound and The Slowdown; and translated into German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Croatian, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, and Bengali.

Music and theatre

Choral and vocal settings of her poems, composed by Mayako Kubo for the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus, Chorusorganisation, Koreanische Frauengruppe Berlin, and Japanische Fraueninitiative Berlin, premiered at Pablo Casals Hall, Tokyo, and were performed at St. Mathias Church, Berlin and St. Geltow Church, Potsdam. Vocal settings of her work, composed by Jerome Blais, premiered at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, recorded by the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

(CBC), then were later performed by the Solera Quartet at the Art Institute of Chicago, May 2019, and recorded by WFMT-Chicago. Kim co-authored ''Private Property'', a multimedia play showcased at

Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit American Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. ...

(NY) and produced at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

(Scotland).

Personal life

Kim married Raymond Short in 2007. She lives in London.

Awards

/ Discovery Award * Walt Whitman Award from the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outrea ...

* Addison Metcalf Award from

the American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...

Whiting Writers' Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

* Northern California Book Award/ Bay Area Book Reviewers Award * Griffin International Poetry Prize shortlistGriffin Poetry Prize biography
/ref> * Lucille Medwick Award from the

Poetry Society of America Poetry (from the Greek word '' poiesis'', "making") is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, literal or surface-level meanings. Any partic ...

* two

George Bogin Memorial Award The Poetry Society of America's George Bogin Memorial Award is given "by the family and friends of George Bogin for a selection of four or five poems that use language in an original way to reflect the encounter of the ordinary and the extraordinar ...

s from the Poetry Society of America * O'Donoghue Award from Munster Literature Centre, Ireland * International Book & Pamphlet Award, U.K.

Works

* ''Notes from the Divided Country'' (Louisiana State University Press) * ''Notes from the North'' (Smith/Doorstop, U.K.) * ''Private Property'' (multimedia play, Edinburgh Festival Fringe) * "hwajon," "Flight," "Looking at a Yi Dynasty Rice Bowl" (texts for choral compositions by Mayako Kubo, Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus) * "The Ministry of Truth Renames the Famine," "Post-Nation" (texts for soprano and chamber choir by Mayako Kubo, St Mathias Church, Berlin, St Geltow Church, Potsdam) * "Occupation," "Fragments of the Forgotten War," "Montage with Neon" (texts for compositions for voice and piano by Jerome Blais, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Art Institute of Chicago)

Anthologies

* ''American Religious Poems'', ed. Harold Bloom. (Library of America) * ''American War Poetry: 1700-2020'', ed. Lorrie Goldensohn. (Columbia University Press) * ''Asian-American Poetry: The Next Generation.'' (University of Illinois Press) * ''Backpack Literature,'' ed. Dana Gioia. (Longman) * ''The Bedford Introduction to Literature, 13th edition'' (Macmillan, forthcoming) * ''Berliner Anthologie'' (Alexander Verlag, in association with Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin) * ''Best American Poetry 2018.'' (Scribner) * ''Best American Poetry 2016.'' (Scribner) * ''Century of the Tiger: One Hundred Years of Korean Culture in America.'' (University of Hawaii Press) * ''Contemporary American Poetry.'' (Penguin) * ''Contemporary American Poetry in Russian Translation.'' (Dalkey Archive and OSI Publishers, Moscow, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts) * ''Crossing State Lines: An American Renga.'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) * ''Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writing,'' ed. Elaine Kim. (Temple University Press) * ''The Future Dictionary of America,'' ed. Dave Eggers. (McSweeney's) * ''The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology.'' (House of Anansi Press, Toronto) * ''Inside Literature.'' (Pearson Longman) * ''An Introduction to Poetry.'' (Pearson Longman) * ''The Koreas,'' Charles Armstrong. (Routledge) * ''Language for a New Century: Contemporary Voices from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond.'' (W. W. Norton) * ''Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century.'' (Sarabande) * ''Lineas Conectadas: Nueva Poesia de los Estates Unidos.'' (Sarabande, in Spanish translation, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts) * ''Literature: A Pocket Anthology.'' (Penguin) * ''Literature: A Portable Anthology.'' (Macmillan/ Bedford St Martin's) * ''Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing.'' (Pearson Longman) * ''Love is Strong as Death.'' (Penguin Australia-New Zealand) * ''A Mingling of Waters.'' (Supernova P&D Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata, India, in association with the Kolkata Book Fair) * ''The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, Elevators and Waiting Rooms.'' (Picador) * ''Places of Poetry: Mapping the Nation in Verse'' (Poetry Society/ One World, U.K.) * ''Poet's Choice: Poems from the Washington Post'' (Harcourt) * ''Poetry: A Pocket Anthology.'' (Penguin) * ''Poetry For Students.'' (Thomson Gale) * ''Poetry On Record, 1888-2006: 98 Poets Read Their Work.'' (Shout Factory/ Sony Music) * ''Poetry 30.'' (University of West Virginia Press) * ''Roots and Seeds.'' (Hazel Press, U.K.) * ''Staying Human.'' (Bloodaxe, U.K.) * ''To Gather Your Leaving: Asian Diaspora Poetry.'' (Ethos Books, Singapore) * ''The Wounded Line.'' (University of New Mexico Press) * ''Twenty Years of Poem of the Week.'' (Madvile Books)

References

External links

Suji Kwock Kim Website

"Notes from the North"

''The Guardian'' Poem of the Week

* ttps://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-08-bk-p11poem8-story.html ''Los Angeles Times'' "Drunk Metaphysics"
Profile at The Whiting Foundation

Griffin Poetry Prize biography

Griffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clip

2005 University of California at Berkeley video clip

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Suji Kwock American poets American dramatists and playwrights of Korean descent American expatriates in England American writers of Korean descent British people of Korean descent Living people Stanford University alumni Seoul National University alumni Yale College alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni American women dramatists and playwrights American women poets Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women