Poet Kwon Dal-woong's 'Dreaming Water' Selected as Korea Forest Service Green Literature Award Winner

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service announced on the 19th that poet Kwon Dal-ung's "Dreaming Water" and poet Gong Gwang-gyu's "Epic Poem Geumgangsan" have been selected as the winners of the Green Literature Award.

The Green Literature Award is presented by the Korea Forest Literature Association, a non-profit organization supported by the Korea Forest Service, to recognize literary works that highlight the values and importance of forest love, respect for life, and green environmental conservation.

This year, a total of 238 works were recommended, and 17 works advanced to the finals. The finalists by category are: ▲ 8 poems ▲ 1 sijo ▲ 1 children's poem ▲ 4 novels ▲ 2 fairy tales ▲ 1 essay.

Among these, the final awardees are poet Kwon Dal-ung and poet Gong Gwang-gyu. The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on the 12th of next month at the House of Literature and Seoul Forest Literature Hall, where each winner will receive a prize of 15 million won.

Song Kyung-ho, Director of the Forest Recreation and Hiking Division at the Korea Forest Service, said, "To ensure fair and transparent operation of the Green Literature Award, Korea's leading literary organizations participate as operating committee members of the Green Literature Award Committee." He added, "The Korea Forest Service will continue to elevate the status of the Green Literature Award to contribute to the expansion of forest culture."

Meanwhile, poet Kwon, born in 1944 in Bonghwa, Gyeongbuk, debuted in 1975 by winning the Newcomer Award from the magazine Simsang. Since then, he has published 12 poetry collections including "Sunflower Fantasy," "Deer Antlers," "Windy Day," "A Person on Earth," "You Are at the Center of My Heart," "Looking for the Crake," and "Fireflies Flying," as well as poetry anthologies such as "Green World" and "Meditation on the Shaking Rock."

Through his literary activities, poet Kwon has received awards such as the Pyeonun Literary Award, Fan Literary Award, Choi Gye-rak Literary Award, and Shin Seok-cho Literary Award. He currently serves as a director of the Korean Poets Association.

Poet Gong (born in 1960 in Seoul) debuted in 1986 by winning the Newcomer Award from the monthly magazine Dongseo Literature. He has published eight poetry collections including "University Diary," "Dry Leaves Come Alive Again," "Severe Adultery," "Soju Bottle," "A Lump of Horse Dung," "Breaking Down the Fence," "To Paju," and "Epic Poem Geumgangsan," as well as poetry anthologies such as "Face Side Dish," an Indonesian-translated poetry collection "Pesan Sang Mentari (Words of Sunshine)," and the prose collection "Clear Sadness," totaling 14 books.

Poet Gong has received numerous awards including the Shin Seok-jeong Literary Award, Dica Poetry Award, Best Poem of the Year selected by writers, Goyang Haengju Literary Award, Modern Buddhist Literature Award, Kim Man-jung Literary Award (Gold Prize), Dongguk Literary Award, and Yun Dong-ju Literary Grand Prize.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.