[57th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards] Poetry Commendation Award winner Park Se-yeon
For Park Se-yeon, translating poetry meant reading the same lines perhaps a hundred times — and finding that they still had the power to move her. Working on poems by An Hee-yeon, the Korean-English translator and English instructor read aloud, listened to recordings and repeatedly revised her English versions. Familiarity did not diminish their emotional force. “I never grew tired of them.…
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Park Se-yeon, a Korean translator of poetry, won the Poetry Commendation Award at the 57th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards. Translating poetry required her to read the same lines many times, yet their emotional impact never faded. Collaborating with Korean-English translator and English instructor An Hee-yeon, Park read the poems aloud, listened to recordings, and revised her English translations repeatedly.
Despite becoming more deeply moved by the material each time, Park never lost her admiration for An's ability to observe human vulnerability without judgment or sentimentality. She aimed to convey the same warmth, courage, and honesty in her English translations, allowing English-speaking readers to experience the same emotions An's vivid, unexpected imagery evoked.
Park was particularly drawn to An's gentle yet unsettling perspective on vulnerability and imperfection.
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