Gokseong-gun Hosts 24th Anniversary Literary Festival for Poet Jo Tae-il, Who Died in Prison

Saturday, September 9, 3 PM at Gokseong County Hall

Ko Jae-jong and Choi Doo-seok Poets Jointly Awarded Jo Tae-il Literary Prize

Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Lee Sang-cheol) will hold the ‘2023 Jukhyung Jo Tae-il Literary Festival’ on the 9th at the Gokseong-gun Citizens’ Hall.

The Jo Tae-il Literary Festival is jointly hosted by Gokseong-gun and the Jukhyung Jo Tae-il Poet Memorial Association to honor the poet Jo Tae-il (1941?1999), who was born in Gokseong.

Poet Jo Tae-il, executed by death penalty [Photo by Gokseong-gun]

Poet Jo Tae-il was a poet who resisted political contradictions and social realities with sharp language against injustice, and moved many people with his outstanding lyrical poems that express communion with nature.

This literary festival is held on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the poet’s passing (solar calendar September 7) under the theme “Reaching to that soul, to that breath.” The event will begin with Jukdong Nongak Samulnori performed by children from the Seokgok Regional Children’s Center, followed by poetry recitations and various performances.

Soprano Song Ju-hye and tenor Choi Ho-rim will perform Jo Tae-il’s poems such as , and Lee Yong-seon, the holder of Jeollabuk-do Intangible Cultural Property No. 2 Jeokbyeokga, will present and .

Additionally, literary critic Kim Soo-i will be a guest speaker, discussing the life and literary world of Jo Tae-il, whose work is strongly imprinted on our contemporary poetry amid the devastation caused by the violence of capital and the climate crisis.

Poet Kim Ju-dae, known as the “poet who paints,” will present a literary painting of Jo Tae-il’s poem .

Poets Lee Bong-hwan and Choi Seung-kwon will recite poems, and reciters Kim Gwi-sook and Lee Eun-ah will recite Jo Tae-il’s representative poem .

In addition, more than 50 poems by national poets, including representative works of Jo Tae-il and works by past Jo Tae-il Literary Award winners such as Park Nam-jun, Son Taek-su, and Lee Dae-heum, will be on permanent display.

At the 5th Jo Tae-il Literary Award, poet Ko Jae-jong’s ≪Dokgak≫ (published by Munyeon) and poet Choi Doo-seok’s ≪The Crane’s Sleep≫ (published by Literature and Intelligence) were jointly awarded.

A representative from the organizers said, “The final deliberations and debates were intense until the end. After much consideration, the three main judges ultimately agreed that ranking the works was meaningless and dramatically decided to award two poetry collections.”

Judge A from the judging panel evaluated, “Ko Jae-jong’s ≪Dokgak (獨覺)≫ signifies an attitude toward life, a method, and a goal. What humans have lost by massacring nature is this very moment of empty yet full solitary awakening. ≪Dokgak≫, which has built a ‘natural realism’ to revive modern humans and modern civilization through the ‘infinite scripture’ of nature, elevates its poetic world by telling the climax of this narrative.”

This year’s Jo Tae-il Literary Award was judged based on poetry collections submitted through open calls and recommendations from May 1 to June 30.

Preliminary judges included Kim Dae-hyun (literary critic), Kim Byung-ho (poet), and Nam Seung-won (literary critic), while the final judges were Kim Jeong-hwan (poet), Im Dong-hwak (poet), and Kim Soo-i (literary critic).

The winners will receive a plaque, a total prize money of 20 million KRW, and a seal artwork by Jeong Byeong-rye, engraved with Jo Tae-il’s representative poem .

Jo Tae-il was born as the fourth of seven siblings of a Buddhist monk at Taeansa Temple in Gokseong. He graduated from Gwangju Middle School, Gwangju High School, and Kyung Hee University. He debuted in the literary world by winning the Kyunghyang Shinmun New Year Literary Contest in 1964 and published poetry collections such as ≪Morning Ship≫, ≪On the Kitchen Knife≫, ≪Land≫, ≪Freedom to the Poet≫, ≪In the Mountains, In the Flowers≫, ≪Wildflowers Do Not Wither≫, and ≪I Was Burning Alone≫. Since founding the magazine ≪Poet≫ in 1969, he discovered poets including Kim Ji-ha, Yang Seong-woo, Kim Jun-tae, and Park Nam-jun.

He was a representative national and people’s poet who led the fight for freedom of expression and democratization, including being imprisoned as a preemptive detainee before the nationwide martial law expansion by the new military government in 1980. From 1989, he nurtured younger generations at Gwangju University and passed away from liver cancer on September 7, 1999. He received the Pyeonun Literary Award, Manhae Literary Award, and was posthumously awarded the Bogwan Cultural Medal.

Gokseong = Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Cha Jong-seon hss79@asiae.co.kr

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