Song Chanho (, born 1959) is a South Korean poet.

Life

Song Chanho was born in

Boeun County Boeun County (''Boeun-gun'') is a county in North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. History Boeun ( literally "offering gratitude" or "thanksgiving"), was a South Korean town named in 1406 by a remorseful King Taejong, who felt relieved that h ...

North Chungcheong Province North Chungcheong Province ( ko, 충청북도, ''Chungcheongbuk-do''), also known as Chungbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Chungcheong has a population of 1,578,934 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Hoseo region in the s ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

in 1959. He studied

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is als ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

Kyungpook National University Kyungpook National University (경북대학교, abbreviated as KNU or Kyungdae, 경대) is one of ten Flagship Korean National Universities representing Daegu Metropolitan City and Gyeongbuk Province in South Korea. It is located in the Dae ...

. His writing career began in 1987 when several of his poems, including "Geumho River" (), were published in the literary journal ''Literature of Our Age''. Song published his first poetry collection, ''The Soil Has the Memory of a Square'' (, 1989) two years later. Song won the thirteenth Dongsuh Literary Award and nineteenth

Kim Su-yeong Kim Suyeong was a Korean poet. Life Kim Soo-young (1921–1968) was a Korean poet and translator whose poetry explored love and freedom as poetic and political ideals. Kim was born in Gwancheol-dong, Seoul on November 27, 1921. After gradua ...

Literary Award, both in 2000. He has also received the Daesan Literary Award (2009) and the

Yi Sang Literary Award The Yi Sang Literary Award (이상문학상) is a South Korean literary award. It is one of South Korea's most prestigious literary awards, named after Yi Sang, an innovative writer in modern Korean literature. The Yi Sang Literary Award was estab ...

(2010).

Writing

Song Chanho's style of writing is experimental lyric poetry. His first poetry collection, ''The Soil Has the Memory of a Square'' (, 1989) centred around the image of a square with no exit as a metaphor for life and death. His second poetry collection, ''The Chair That Remained Empty for Ten Years'' (, 1994), similarly focused on contrasting opposites, with more emphasis on the use of language. Song Chanho also frequently uses nature imagery to convey meaning, such as in ''Red Eyes, Camellia'' (, 2000). More recent works, such as ''The Night of the Cat's Return'' (, 2009), have more explicitly criticized society and civilization in general. Of Song's fifth poetry collection, ''Pink Wooden Shoes'' (, 2016), literary critic Yi Jae-bok wrote that Song's poetry had "a classical elegance as the result of his deep reflection on language and existence." Several of Song's poems and one of his poetry collections have been translated into English.

Works

Works in Korean (partial)

* ''The Soil Has the Memory of a Square'' (, 1989) * ''The Chair That Remained Empty for Ten Years'' (, 1994) * ''Red Eyes, Camellia'' (, 2000) * ''The Night of the Cat's Return'' (, 2009) * ''Pink Wooden Shoes'' (, 2016) * ''Like a Goose Going To Play in the Aster Fields'' (, 2016)

Works in translation

''The Night of the Cat's Return''

''AZALEA: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture'' (Volume One)

''Douze poètes coréens contemporains''

Awards

* 2000: 13th Dongsuh Literary Award * 2000: 19th

Literary Award * 2008: 8th Midang Literary Award * 2009: 17th Daesan Literary Award * 2010: 3rd

External links

소금 창고 “Salt Storage.”
* 송찬호 시인이 말하는 나의 시세계 특강 “Poet Song Chanho’s Talk on His Poetry.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Chanho 1959 births Korean writers Living people South Korean male poets Midang Literary Award winners