함민복 咸敏復
Poet known for collections such as Depressed Man's Day and The Soft Strength; winner of the Kim Su-young Literary Prize and Yun Dong-ju Prize; lives on Ganghwa Island
| Life | 1962 |
| Era | 현대 |
| Clan | 강릉 함씨 |
Life & career
Ham Min-bok (咸敏復, born 1962) is a South Korean poet presented as Gangneung Ham on the basis of Wikipedia's categories; the text does not state his seat, so clan confirmation is needed. He was born in Noeun-myeon, Jungwon County (now Chungju), North Chungcheong, graduated from Sudo Electrical Technical High School and from the creative writing program at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. Unusually, he worked for four years at the Wolseong nuclear power plant.
He debuted in 1988, in his second year of college, with poems in Segye-ui Munhak. His early collections Depressed Man's Day (1990) and The Promise of Capitalism (1993) dealt with a blocked reality and the alienation of the individual amid materialism and desire. Later collections, leading to The Soft Strength (2005), are assessed as turning toward embracing everyday objects and vulnerable beings in warm, honest language, a tendency that continues through Like Eyelids That Cut Tears (2013).
His other works include the collections Flowers Bloom on Every Boundary, Flower Utility Pole (2011) and the selected poems I Fall Asleep with Thoughts of You Left On (2013), the children's poetry book Seawater, Oh, It Is Salty (2009), essay collections such as Why Are Tears Salty (2003), and the commentary To Bow Down (2011). He received the Today's Young Artist Award in 1998, the Aeji, Park Yong-rae and Kim Su-young literary prizes in 2005, and the Violet Commoner Poet Prize and the sixth Yun Dong-ju Prize grand prize in literature in 2011. He is said to have settled in Dongmak-ri, Hwado-myeon, Ganghwa County, after visiting Manisan on Ganghwa Island in 1996. As he is a living person, this page records only published works and awards.
Change in His Poetry
He began by treating a blocked reality and individual alienation and, from about The Soft Strength (2005), is assessed as moving toward warmly embracing everyday objects.
Awards
He won the Today's Young Artist Award in 1998, the Kim Su-young Literary Prize and others in 2005, and the Yun Dong-ju Prize grand prize in literature in 2011.