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Korea Herald

Poet Kim Hye-soon wins Germany's International Literature Prize, first Asian honoree

'Autobiography of Death,' which won the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2019, continues to garner international acclaim Acclaimed South Korean poet Kim Hye-soon has been named the winner of the 2025 International Prize for Literature for her poetry collection "Autobiography of Death," becoming the first Asian recipient of the German literary award presented by the House of World Cultures (HKW) in Berlin. The announcement was made on Thursday during a ceremony hosted by HKW, where Kim was selected from among six finalists. Other shortlisted authors included Turkish German writer Dogan Akhanli, Canadian writer Sarah Bernstein, Ukrainian writer Anna Melikova, French writer Neige Sinno and American novelist Jesmyn Ward. The jury unanimously selected Kim, praising the power of her verse: 'In the wonder of Hyesoon's poetry, meaning often reveals itself precisely in the enigmatic. The texts open up as we follow their rhythm and read on and on; the images reveal themselves like signs that only become visible once the right direction has already been chosen.' Kim did not attend the ceremony in person but appeared via video link from Korea to express her gratitude. 'My deep thanks go to translators Park Sool and Uljana Wolf, the jury, HKW, Oliver Vogel of publisher S. Fischer Verlag, and to editors Madeleine and Matthias of the Haus fur Poesie for organizing the reading,' she said. The award recognizes both author and translator. It was jointly awarded to Kim and the collection's co-translators: Park Sool, a poet and philosophy professor at the University of Hildesheim known for his translations of Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, Holderlin and Trakl; and Uljana Wolf, a poet and translator noted for her work on texts by Korean American poet Choi Don-mee. "Autobiography of Death" was first published in Korean in 2016. It consists of 49 poems inspired by the poet's collapse at a subway station in 2015 and her reflections on collective tragedies such as the Sewol ferry disaster and the MERS outbreak. The German edition was released in February by S. Fischer Verlag with support from the Daesan Foundation. The collection had previously garnered international acclaim in English translation by Choi Don-mee, winning the Griffin Poetry Prize in Canada in 2019 -- making Kim the first Korean to receive the honor. Kim also won Sweden's Cikada Prize in 2021 and the National Book Critics Circle Award in the US in 2024 for her latest poetry collection "Phantom Pain Wings." In 2022, she was named an International Writer by the Royal Society of Literature in the UK. The International Prize for Literature recognizes outstanding contemporary works in international literature and their first translation into German. Poetry translations have been eligible for consideration since 2023. Kim's win marks the first time a poetry collection has received the award. Notably, Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang was shortlisted for the prize in 2017 for "The Vegetarian." The award carries a total prize of 35,000 euros ($40,670) -- 20,000 euros for the author and 15,000 euros for the translator.