NOPF International Night: Korean Poetry & Translation

In partnership with the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, our annual International Night features a roundtable and performance by Korean poets, translators, and publishers. The evening begins with a roundtable discussion among the participants and culminates with a bi-lingual reading by the poets and their translators. The roundtable will begin at 6:30pm and will be followed by the performances at 7:30pm on Friday, April 19th, at Café Istanbul in the New Orleans Healing Center, 2372 St. Claude, New Orleans, LA 70117. This event is free and open to the public. More events at https://nolapoetry.com/

The roundtable: Department of Lost-and-Found: a discussion by poets, translators, and publishers Janaka Stucky, Jake Levine, Sue Hyon Bae, Ha Jaeyoun, and Hwang Yuwon on translation. As a character in the Jim Jarmusch film Patterson says, reading poetry in translation is like taking a shower with a raincoat on. Likewise Robert Frost said, “Poetry is what gets lost in translation.” Often framed in the narrow terms of what is lost, translation is also a process where creative possibilities emerge in the chasm between languages: where new meanings and breakthroughs are often found, where authors and their work are discovered by readers in new contexts, speaking in non-native tongues. These poets and translators, working between Korean and English, will discuss their experiences of the dynamic ways in which translation yields creative discoveries between a people’s language and one’s personal poetics, while simultaneously navigating the challenges that are innate to the transformative art.

Ha Jaeyoun started her career in 2002 when she received the award for best new poet from the journal <문학과 사회Literature and Society>. She received a PhD in Modern Korean Literature from Korea University for her research in 1930’s Korean poetry. She also was the recipient of the 3rd Yeongnam-ilbo Ku Sang Literature prize.

She is the author of the poetry collections, <라디오 데이즈Radio Days> (Moonji, 2006), <세계의 모든 해변처럼Like all the Beaches in the World> (Moonji, 2012), and <우주적인 안녕Universal Hello> (Moonji, 2019). She is also the author of the research books <근대시의 모험과 움직이는 조선어Adventures of Modern Poetry and Moving Chosun Language> (Somyeong Press, 2012), <문학의 상상과 시의 실천The Imagination of Literature and the Action of Poetry> (Bogosa, 2022), <무한한 역설의 사랑Infinite Love of Paradox> (Bogosa, 2022) and the collection of essays <내게 와 어두워진 빛들에게To the darkened lights by the coming of me> (Moonji, 2023).

English translations of her poems appeared in Poems of Hwang Yuwon, Ha Jaeyoun, & Seo Dae-kyung (Edited & Introduced by Jake Levine, Vagabond Press, 2020). In addition, the poetry collection Radion days was published in English(Translated by Sue Hyon Bae, Black Ocean, 2023). After the pandemic started began a series of poems that she has been publishing called “언데드Undead.” and “종의 기원The Origin of Species”.

Hwang Yuwon is a poet, translator. He is the author of 4 collections of poetry, White Deer Lake, Supernatural 3D Printing, You Should See Me in a Crown, and Everything in the World, Maximized. He translates poetry and novels from English to Korean. Among them are The Lyrics: 1961-2012 by Bob Dylan, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah, Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, and Glass, Irony & God by Anne Carson.

Sue Hyon Bae is a poet and translator from South Korea. She received her MFA from Arizona State University and is currently a PhD candidate in comparative literature at Arizona State University. She is the author of a poetry book, Truce Country (Eyewear Publishing, 2019), co-translator of Kim Hyesoon’s A Drink of Red Mirror (Action Books, 2019), and translator of Ha Jaeyoun’s Radio Days (Black Ocean Press, 2023).

Jake Levine is an assistant professor of Creative Writing at Keimyung University. He has written and translated or co-translated over a dozen books, including Kim Yideum’s Hysteria (Action Books, 2019) which was the first book to be awarded both the National Translation Award and the Lucien Stryk Prize. He is a former Fulbright Fellow (to Lithuania in 2010), a recipient of a Korean Government Scholarship, served as an assistant editor at Acta Koreana, as a poetry editor at Spork Press, as the managing editor and editor-in-chief at Sonora Review, and currently edits the award-winning contemporary Korean poetry series, Moon Country, at Black Ocean. He has also translated other cultural contents such as Yun Hyong-Keun’s diaries and narration for the K-pop group ENHYPEN. His first full-length book of poetry The Imagined Country is out with Tolsun Books in 2023.

Janaka Stucky is a poet, performer, and practicing mystic. He is the founding editor of the award-winning press Black Ocean, and the author of four poetry collections including Ascend Ascend (Third Man Books, 2019)—which was released as a live performance with cellist Lori Goldston by Neurot Recordings in May 2023. His work has been profiled in The Believer, Vice, and BOMB Magazine. He incorporates esoteric & occult influences to develop a trance poetics, which he has taught or performed in over 60 cities around the world. Find him at janakastucky.com or on Instagram at @janaka_stucky.