Author: Shin Kyung-nim
Translated by: James Han, Kim Won-Chung
Publisher: Homa + Sekey, 2006
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From the publisher’s website:
For the Korean farmers of the second half of the twentieth century, Korea’s shift from a farming to an industrial society imposed hardship on their lives. Shin Kyungrim, who understood their pain and suffering, recorded their feelings in A Love Song for the Earnest, a collection of over sixty poems that not only mirrors the lives of Korea’s impoverished but also hopes for a brighter future to everyone in every social class. Within Shin’s extraordinary sense of sympathy lies an innate humor and will to live, which makes his poems warm and positive.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shin Kyungrim was born in Chungju, Korea, in 1935 and started his poetry career when he was twenty. He has published an extensive collection of poems including Farmer’s Dance, Bird’s Pass, Road, The Dream of the Fallen, Grandmother and Horns. He has received many prominent awards including the Manhae Literary Award, the Korean Literature Award and the Daesan Literary Award.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS
Won-Chung Kim is a professor of English literature, and James Han is an instructor of English, at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Korea. They have co-translated the works of Chiha Kim and Seungho Choi (Flowers in the Toilet Bowl, Homa & Sekey Books, 2004).