Support BOA by ordering Autobiography of Death through these links:
Amazon U.S.
Apple Books U.S.
Amazon Japan
Thanks for helping support Books on Asia!
“In the grievous wake of the Sewol Ferry incident of 2014, the Korean poet Kim Hyesoon composed a cycle of forty-nine poems—one for each day the dead must wait reincarnation—to produce a harrowing work of shock, outrage, and veneration for the children lost to this disaster.”—Judges’ Citation, the Griffen Poetry Prize 2019
On the morning of 16 April 2014, a ferry with 476 passengers aboard, including a group of high school students, was enroute between Incheon and Jeju island when the ferry sent out a distress signal. The ferry sank, taking 304 people with it, 250 of them Danwon High School students. The captain and three crew members were charged with murder, and eleven other crew for abandoning ship.
Kim Hyesoon, born in 1955, is one of the most prominent and influential contemporary poets of South Korea. She was the first female poet to receive the prestigious Kim Su-yong and Midang awards. Her most recent books include I’m OK, I’m Pig! and Poor Love Machine.