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Poet Kim Hye-soon wins German literary prize for 'Autobiography of Death'

Published: 18 Jul. 2025, 12:16

Poet Kim Hye-soon [MOONJI PUBLISHING]

Korean poet Kim Hye-soon has won Germany's prestigious International Literature Award for her poetry collection, "Autobiography of Death" (2016).

Kim became the first Asian author to receive the honor, and it is the first time the award has been given to a work of poetry, according to the award's website Friday.

The International Literature Award honors an outstanding work of contemporary international literature and its first German translation. The prize was also awarded to translators Uljana Wolf and Sool Park.

"In the wonder of Hye-soon's poetry, meaning is often revealed precisely in the enigmatic," the jury said in a statement. "The texts open up as we follow their rhythm and read them over and over again."

Writer Deniz Utlu added that Kim's book allows readers to listen to "this language as it sounds on the threshold of the afterlife. [...] In their language of the afterlife, Kim Hye-soon's verses transcend the known and familiar and, paradoxically, succeed in making the incomprehensible — death — a little more tangible."

Book cover for ″Autobiography of Death″ (2016) [MOONJI PUBLISHING]

"Autobiography of Death," first published in Korean in 2016, is a collection of 49 poems, each representing a day in the liminal state following death. Kim, who was unable to attend the ceremony in Germany, expressed her gratitude via video message.

The award is the latest in a series of major international accolades for Kim.

"Autobiography of Death" previously won Canada's International Griffin Poetry Prize in 2019, and her collection "Phantom Pain Wings" (2019) won the U.S. National Book Critics Circle Award in March last year.

Yonhap