Kim Sunhyang's Poetry Collection "Annyeong (SO LONG)" Wins Orpheus Text Book of the Year Award

A Poetic Chronicle of a Remarkable Life Journey
"Unmun Diary" Series Receives International Literary Recognition

The poetry collection "Annyeong (SO LONG)" by Kim Sunhyang, Chairperson of the University of North Korean Studies, has been selected as the winner of the "2025 Orpheus Text Book of the Year Award" presented by Mundus Artium Press, affiliated with the University of Texas at Dallas.

Cover of the poetry collection "Annyeong," the winner of the Orpheus Text Book of the Year Award.

Founded in 1967 at Ohio University in the United States, Mundus Artium Press is a nonprofit publisher dedicated to highlighting contemporary international literature and fostering global exchange in literature and the arts by discovering and translating international writers.

The "Orpheus Text Book of the Year Award" is a prestigious honor presented annually to individuals who have made outstanding contributions in the fields of literature, journalism, and visual arts. It recognizes and celebrates efforts and achievements that have contributed to the advancement of humanity.

With this award, Kim Sunhyang's accomplishments will be permanently recorded on the Mundus Artium Press website and registered in international databases, ensuring ongoing recognition and commemoration worldwide.

Recently, Kim Sunhyang published "Annyeong (SO LONG)" through Mundus Artium Press, a collection that brings together her "Unmun Diary" series, which chronicles her unique life journey.

This bilingual Korean-English poetry book features key poems from "Unmun Diary" (2012), "Unmun Diary 2 - Golden Rose," and "Unmun Diary 3 - That Day, That Flower," published between 2012 and 2024. Notably, as a scholar of English literature, Kim Sunhyang personally translated the poems into English, adding depth to the work.

The "Unmun Diary" series embodies Kim Sunhyang's aspiration and poetic achievement to "write words that sound like songs."

From her migration from North Korea to South Korea to her present role as an English literature professor, the entire series embraces the turbulent history of modern Korea, expressing honest and calm confessions about her daily life, family stories, and the beautiful fragments of her life.

The publisher stated, "Through her journey from North to South, Kim Sunhyang candidly reflects the turbulence of modern Korean history and unravels historical turmoil through her personal quest for freedom. Her poetry finds meaning at the intersection of the moment and eternity, and the fragrance of life and art lingers long after reading her work."

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