Korean poetry takes center stage at Edinburgh book festival

In Edinburgh this week, a Korean poet and his English translator engaged with readers to delve into the nuances and discoveries that arise when poetry transcends language barriers. At the Edinburgh International Book Festival, poet Lee Seong-bok and translator Anton Hur presented Lee's poetry collection "That Summer’s End." This marked the second consecutive year of collaboration between the festival and the Korean Cultural Centre UK, with the discussion chaired by poet and writer Andrew McMillan.

The conversation explored themes of love, loss, pain, and beauty present in Lee's work, as well as the challenges faced when translating the compressed language into English. Hur emphasized the importance of preserving the rhythm, ambiguity, imagery, and emotional resonance of the original Korean poems while allowing them to resonate with English-language readers.

Lee, recognized as one of Korea's most influential poets, has published eight poetry collections and other works. Hur has also translated other Korean works, such as Bora Chung's "Cursed Bunny" and Sang Young Park's "Love in th."