Sun Yung Shin (born 1974) is a Korean American poet, writer, consultant, and educator living in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. She is the editor of "A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota" ( Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2016), author of "The Wet Hex" (

Coffee House Press Coffee House Press is a nonprofit independent press based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The press’s goal is to "produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience ...

2022), "Unbearable Splendor" (

2016), ''Rough, and Savage'' (

, 2012), ''Skirt Full of Black'' (

, 2007), and the bilingual (English/Korean) illustrated children's book ''Cooper's Lesson'' ( Children's Book Press, imprint of

Lee & Low Books Lee & Low Books is an independent children's book publisher focusing on diversity. History Lee & Low was founded in 1991 by Chinese Americans Tom Low and Philip Lee as a children's book publisher specializing in books featuring people of color a ...

). She was an editor with

Jane Jeong Trenka Jane Jeong Trenka is a Korean American activist and an award-winning writer. She is the president of the organization TRACK (Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea). Early life Trenka was born in Seoul, Korea in 1972. When s ...

and Julia Chinyere Oparah for ''Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption'' (

South End Press South End Press was a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics. It was founded in 1977 by Michael Albert, Lydia Sargent, Juliet Schor, among others, in Boston's South End. It published books written by political activi ...

, 2006), the first international anthology on the politics of transracial adoption edited by transracial adoptees. ''Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption'' was released in a Korean-language edition by KoRoot Press in Seoul, South Korea, in 2012.

Biography

Shin was born in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, South Korea, and was adopted when she was 13 months during the second big wave of the adoption of Asian children. She was adopted by a white couple and was raised and grew up in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. She attended

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

for one year and then transferred to Macalester College in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

and graduated ''cum laude'' with a degree in English. After graduating, she worked for a technology companies whose clients included United Health, The US Navy, and Pillsbury to pay off her college loans and pursue a master's degree. While in the process of obtaining her master's degree in teaching from the

University of St. Thomas St. Thomas University or University of St. Thomas may refer to: *Saint Thomas Aquinas University, Colombia *Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North, Tucumán province, Argentina *St. Thomas University (Canada), Fredericton, New Brunswick *St. ...

, she took a course on adolescent literature from playwright John Fenn. He liked a poem she wrote and took it home for his partner Jill Breckenridge to read. She loved it and encouraged Shin to continue writing poetry. Afterwards, she became the poetry editor of the campus literary magazine for Macalester College. From 2001 to 2002, Shin was in SASE: ''The Write Place'' mentor program with Minnesota poet Mark Nowak. Through the Loft's program, she was mentored by Wang Ping. Shin has worked teaching literature, media reform and creative writing at the Perpich Center for Arts Education. She also taught composition and creative writing at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, Macalester College,

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline o ...

, The College of St. Catherine, The Loft Literary Center and Intermedia Arts/SASE: ''The Write Place''. She taught English as second language and has been a guest artist in many inner city schools in the Minneapolis-St Paul. She was also involved in the now defunct Asian American Renaissance and as a board member on many other community organizations. Shin presents her work frequently in the Twin Cities, and her poems have appeared in journals such as ''

Indiana Review ''Indiana Review'' (''IR'') is a small, student-run literary magazine at Indiana University Bloomington. Founded in 1976, it has a circulation of about 2,000. A biannual review, ''IR'' publishes essays, fiction, graphic arts, interviews, poetry, ...

'', '' Swerve'', ''

Court Green Court Green is a house on Essington Road in North Tawton, Devon, England. It was the home the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath moved to in late August 1961. Plath left the house on 10 December 1962, while Hughes lived there on and off for the rest ...

'', ''

Mid-American Review ''Mid-American Review'' (''MAR'') is an international literary journal dedicated to publishing contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and translations. Founded in 1981, ''MAR'' is a publication of the Department of English and the College of Ar ...

'', ''

Sonora Review ''Sonora Review'' is a biannual graduate student-run literary magazine that was established in the fall of 1980. ''Sonora Review'' publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, as well as interviews, book reviews, and art. Each issue is produced ...

'', ''

Capilano Review ''The Capilano Review'' (''TCR'') is a Canadian tri-annual literary magazine located and published in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh ( ...

'' and ''Xcp cross-cultural poetics''.

Awards and honors

Shin won the Asian American Literary Award in 2008 for her book of poems ''Skirt Full of Black''. Shin's essays and fiction are anthologized in ''Fiction on a Stick'' (

Milkweed ''Asclepias'' is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans ...

), ''Riding Shotgun'' (Borealis), ''Transforming a Rape Culture'' (Milkweed), ''Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writings'' (

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

), ''The Encyclopedia Project'' Vol. 1, A-E, Vol. 2, F - K, and ''The Adoption Encyclopedia'' (

Greenwood Publishing Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...

). She also received the Minnesota Book Award in 2017 for her book ''Unbearable Splendor.'' She is a recipient of grants and awards from the (Archibald)

Bush Foundation The Bush Foundation was created in 1953 by Archibald Granville Bush an American businessman primarily involved with 3M and his wife, Edyth Bassler Bush. The organization awards $40 million a year to philanthropic organizations, primarily located ...

, two time award recipient of Minnesota State Arts Board, Blacklock Nature Sanctuary, and The Loft Literary Center, and recipient of an artist's grant from the McKnight Foundation. She is also a 2022 MacDowell Residency Fellow.

Publications

Poems in journals

* A Mortal Fantasy (''Axe Factory Review'', Issue 12, Print) (Fall, 2000)
The Wolveish Forage
(''DUSIE'', Online) (July, 2017)
Immigrant Song
(''Poetry Foundations'', Online) (June, 2017)
Woven Through with Snakes
(''The Cultural Society'', Online) (June, 2017)

Essays / non-fiction in anthologies

* "Harness" (''Others Will Enter the Gates'', New York, Print) (2014)

Essays in journals and other media

Afterword for Asian/American Curricular Epistemicide: From Being Excluded to Becoming Model Minority
(''Sense Publishing'', The Netherlands, Print) (2016)

Poems in special editions and venues

Empty Ring, Nest Fire
(''Poem-a-Day'', Academy of American Poets) (November 23, 2015)

Literary criticism

Human Acts ''Human Acts'' (Sonyeoni onda (소년이 온다) is a South Korean novel written by Han Kang. The novel draws upon the democratization uprising that occurred on May 18, 1980 in Gwangju, Korea. In the novel, one boy’s death provides the impetus ...

(''Star Tribune, by Han Kang'') (January 13. 2017)

References

Sources

''Cooper's Lesson : 쿠퍼의 레슨 ''

''Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption''

''Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption''

''A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota''

''My Singularity''

''Valley,Uncanny''

'' Sun Yung Shin ''

External links

Sun Yung Shin's official website''This Spectral Evidence'', a literary journal edited by Sun Yung ShinA review of ''Rough, and Savage''An interview with Sun Yung Shin about ''Outsiders Within'' for ''The Twin Cities Daily Planet''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shin, Sun Yung American writers of Korean descent American women poets American poets Writers from Chicago 1974 births Living people South Korean emigrants to the United States American women journalists 21st-century American poets Artists from Minnesota 21st-century American women writers People from Seoul