Professor Jeon Dong-gyun of Dong-Eui University Korean Language Department Awarded the 8th Kim Jong-sam Poetry Literature Prize

Awarded Work: Poetry Collection "A Hand Resting on the Forehead at Midnight"

Professor Jeon Dong-gyun of the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Dong-Eui University has been selected as the recipient of the 8th Kim Jong-sam Poetry Literature Award.

Professor Jeon Dong-gyun, Department of Korean Language and Literature, Dong-Eui University. Provided by Dong-Eui University

The awarded poetry collection is A Hand Resting on the Forehead at Midnight (Munhakdongne, 2024).

The Kim Jong-sam Poetry Literature Award was established in 2017 to honor the poetic spirit of Kim Jong-sam (1921?1984), who pursued the pinnacle of pure poetry based on warm humanism amid the postwar ruins. The award is given to mid-career poets with more than ten years since their debut, selecting poetry collections that deepen the breadth and depth of Korean poetry.

The judging panel, consisting of poet Jeong Ho-seung, literary critic Lee Soong-won (Professor Emeritus at Seoul Women’s University), poet Kim Ki-taek (Professor at Kyung Hee Cyber University), and literary critic Oh Hyung-yeop (Professor at Korea University), evaluated that “Jeon Dong-gyun’s poetry collection A Hand Resting on the Forehead at Midnight demonstrates the depth of religious spirituality and the maturity of existential contemplation through clear language, aligning with Kim Jong-sam’s poetic spirit that showed a unique world and distinctive style.”

Professor Jeon Dong-gyun was born in 1962 in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk. He graduated from the Department of Creative Writing at Chung-Ang University and its graduate school, and has been a professor at Dong-Eui University since March 2008. He began his literary career by winning the New Writer Award in the poetry category of Novel Literature in 1986. He has published poetry collections including The Long Empty Road, Lingering in Hamheodongcheon, Holy Hunger, Strange Like Us, and With You Where You Are Not. He has received the Baekseok Literary Award in 2014, the Yun Dong-ju Seosi Literary Award in 2018, and the Nojak Literary Award in 2019.

Professor Jeon expressed his feelings, saying, “I am both humbled and delighted to receive an award bearing the name of a respected poet who wrote poetry like a spring rising from ruins. I hope this will be a turning point to explore a deeper and new poetic world.”

The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on April 4 at the House of Artists in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

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