Hwang In-suk


Hwang In-suk is a South Korean poet.

Life

Hwang In-suk was born December 21, 1958 in Seoul, South Korea. She debuted in 1984 with the poem I'll Be Born as a Cat. As the title of her debut poem suggests, Hwang is deeply interest in society's "alley cats", the lonely, isolated existences of the city, both human and feline. In fact, Hwang admits that she still sets out water and food for the stray cats in her neighborhood. She says that although she never sees the cats she feeds, she enjoys the feeling of returning and finding the dishes empty.
Friends of Hwang have named her the "poet of the 4 haves and the 4 have-nots". The four "have-nots" are home, money, husband, and children; the four "haves" are poetry, friends, a non-possessive spirit and a giving heart.

Work

The Korea Literature Translation Institute says, about Hwang:
Loneliness is an important theme in Hwang's work. The poet says, "If you look carefully, whether spirits or humans or things, somewhere someone is muttering 'I'm lonely'".
Hwang has been extremely prolific, with at least thirteen collections published since 1988.
Hwang has had at least one work published in translation, online, Above the Roof.

Awards

Poetry Collections
Prose Collections