Poet Kim Hye-soon invited to poetry reading at Harvard

Poet Kim Hye-soon (Moonji Publishing)

South Korean poet Kim Hye-soon is to give a poetry reading at Harvard University in October.

Kim has been invited to the T. S. Eliot Memorial Reading event at the Woodberry Poetry Room in Harvard University’s Lamont Library on Oct. 2, according to Moonji Publishing on Wednesday.

The English edition of Kim's 13th volume of poems, “Phantom Pain Wings,” was published in the US by New Directions Publishing in May. The original Korean edition of the collection of 72 poems was published in 2019 by Moonji Publishing.

In her recent essay “Bird Rider,” Kim explained that she came to write “Phantom Pain Wings” after the death of her father. “I called out for birds endlessly. I wanted to become a translator of bird language. Bird language that flies to places I’ve never been,” she added.

Kim will also give lectures in New York City and Boston.

What the poet will read at Harvard University has yet to be decided, Moonji Publishing told The Korea Herald.

The T. S. Eliot Memorial Reading event is an annual recital that Harvard University has held since 2019 to honor works of acclaimed poets and writers in collaboration with the Eliot foundation.