Dankook University Students Win the New Spring Literary Contest

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   The Department of Literary Creative Writing at Dankook University produced three winners in the Annual Spring Literary Contest. Sung Wook-hyun, Yeo Han-sol, and Seol Hyun-min each took home top prizes in the New Spring Literary Contest. Sung Wook-hyun won the Hankook Ilbo’s Fairy Tale category for his work entitled, ‘Hyunwoo's Cave’ which tells the story of a child who was scared to spend the night alone in a city house. After hearing the news about a bear that escaped from the national park, he meets a human that was once a bear and a bear that used to be a human. The work was praised for its modern way of reinterpreting the isolation of children and animals. Yeo Han-sol won the Maeil Ilbo's top prize for Poetry.  Her work ‘Night Mountain Trip’ was praised for its fresh ideas and poetic curiosity. Seol Hyun-min won the Yeongnam Ilbo Literature Award for his poem ‘Haegam.’ His work was praised as a good way of interpreting the process of reminiscing through the language of confession. The Dankook Herald (DKH) interviewed the three alumni to learn more about their approach to writing.

¡ã The Department of Literary Creative Writing at Dankook University produced three winners in the Annual Spring Literary Contest. From the left, Sung Wook-hyun, Yeo Han-sol, and Seol Hyun-min. (Photo from DKU Today)

Q1. What do you care about most when writing?

  1. YEO

I correct the sentences several times to make sure I am expressing my own style in my work. Sometimes I erase bitter sentences. Even though it's a sentence I wrote, I think I should be wary of whether it's really my own "unique" sentence. The more you read and experience, the easier it is to imitate the language and voice of other poets without realizing it, or to naturally absorb their individuality and think that it is your own. I try to reduce the risk of imitation, so that I don't lean on other people's expressions for the work I make.

  1. SEOL

I think poetry is like travel or an adventure. Although I'm sitting still and writing poems, I'm slowly moving to a faraway place in my mind as I write and read poems. Maybe that's why I want to experience unexpected things on the journey and face new thoughts and landscapes. When I write poems, I tend to focus on what I meet along the way in the writing. In fact, my destination is always in question and I don't think it's that important. The important thing to me is that I'm getting out of my place. It gives me strength to keep writing poems. So I am paying attention to how much I have moved while writing the poem.

  1. SUNG

I try to write the fairy tales from the perspective of children. I hope they enjoy reading my work.

 

Q2.  Where do you get your inspiration?

  1. YEO

I think of the spaces I have visited and the memorable conversations I have had. When I write poems, I tend to look for similar topics, so that I can express what I want to say. It can be a cave, a girl or a boy, a skateboard or a white field of snow. But I think if people can easily understand what I want to say, I can bring them to people and spaces from the outside world.

  1. SEOL

As many writers do, I often start by rummaging through notes. I intuitively write sentences that seem close to poetry on a notepad, such as impressive scenes, images, and situations. But I also try to record expressions that I think are far from poetry, such as words that I haven't written in poetry and words that I haven't read in poetry before. The former usually stems from the poetry that I have read, so if I rely on it alone, I tend to follow the journey that other poets have made earlier. I'm focusing more on the latter because I want my work to be and expression of my own journey. I'm going to use the moment when the words on the notepad are accidentally combined and an interesting scene is drawn.

  1. SUNG

I find inspiration in modern life. I look for news and entertainment and documentaries featuring children. I'm afraid that the memories of my childhood, or the history of my lessons, will become prejudiced. That’s why I focus more on the present.

 

Q3. What does ‘New Spring Literary Contest’ mean to you?

  1. YEO

It's an event that motivates me to maintain my identity. I used to send and organize work that I had written over the year to newspapers. Since there is a specific date and objective to this, it was one of the factors that motivated me to write constantly and not be lazy. Shin-chun Literature is one of the options that inspires me to make it to my next destination, not my final destination. Above all, it gives me strength to look back on my work life for the past year and grow.

  1. SEOL

Some of the vague feelings I felt after I thought I wanted to live writing poems grew from my own thoughts. This is because I constantly worry about when and where this road will end and whether this road is the right one for me. There are no clear milestones and no fixed destinations. The recognition of my work through ‘Shin-chun Literature’ seemed like a clear sign at least. Therefore, I thought of it as a destination, and I couldn't think of anything after it. There was a long time when I ran blindly. I was very tired, but at some point, I started to see people who were not limited to ‘Shin-chun literature’, but were setting their own milestones in various ways, such as independent literary magazines, independent publishing, and webzines. It was the moment when the boundaries between my debut and my future were torn down. There are many paths and branches, and as I stepped on various options, I gained the power to write for a little longer. In the past, I used to think ‘Shin-chun Literature’ was an airport, where I only had the extreme choice to destroy or send myself very far away, but now I think it's one of the waypoints where I can take a break and then go a little further.

  1. SUNG

 It's an old story that I've kept for a long time. I didn't doubt that one day I would enter the annual spring literary contest. I think the time for my debut came early. I haven't changed since I started.

 

Q4. What is the best work you have ever read?

  1. YEO

There are so many, but when it comes to poetry, it's poet Lee Hyun-ho's ‘Let's Borrow a Writer’ that I read when I was 20 years old.The poet's sentiments and sentences touched me, and I was greatly motivated by poetry writing. It's a collection of poems that I have a lot of memories of talking to people about and giving them as presents, so it's more meaningful to me.

  1. SEOL

I have two answers to this question. There is my favorite work throughout my life and the one that influenced my life the most. It's a little weird for me to think about it, but I feel uncomfortable saying that I like certain works and that I'm a fan of some artist. I think it's because I feel like I'm subordinated to the work and the artist's position, but I'm not sure. So I tend to avoid these questions. On the contrary, it is difficult to talk about the work that has influenced me because there are so many. Among them, I am especially influenced by work that can exchange contemporaneity. Therefore, I am greatly influenced by the work of close directors who are writing and interacting with my Dongin Academy friends, and the work of poets who have not yet published their poems through various channels, or the poems of poets who have just compiled their work. Whenever I encounter their work, I feel like we are moving forward together. Maybe that's why I hope many people will pay attention to the work of famous artists as well as new artists who are doing all kinds of activities. In the case of independent literary magazines, independent webzines, movies and music, I hope many people enjoy the unique vitality they offer as much as they can with independent films and indie music.

  1. SUNG

It's a short story by Oh Jung-hee called ‘Yearning’. Not a single line of writing was written in vain. Every single sentence is written in the required space. I think intervals are the essence of short stories.

 

Q5. What do you want to say to all juniors studying literature?

  1. YEO

Writing poems alone is really hard. If you don't mind, I'd like to recommend you gather a group of people to write together and try to write while thinking about it. There are definitely things you can't get to when you're alone. If you have one or two friends connected by literature, you won't be afraid to write. I also learned a lot from the process of solving conflicts. I have no doubt that they made me grow.

  1. SEOL

I want to tell you that the boundary between senior and junior is actually meaningless. I hope we can meet as colleagues and friends, together in life and literature. I hope we can write and read together for a long time. Therefore, I would like to deliver my message at a place where my colleagues also write. Many writers, myself included, are often sick, sad, hopeless, and lonely. These feelings can help people write, but they also often destroy their lives. I hope everyone gets sick for a while and stays happy and healthy for an even longer time. I want people to read each other's writing without getting tired. I hope we can meet not only in our own rooms, but also in the streets and squares where we will stay together for a long time, to talk and think about creating a healthy literary field together. It may not be our fault that we are exhausted and feel broken down. It's a mindset that I'm giving myself, but I hope you don't push yourself too hard. I hope we can walk together for a long time, supporting each other and raising each other up.

  1. SUNG

Whatever I say, you're just going to write. If you focus on writing regardless of the result, you will be able to encounter good moments.

 

Q. The poem ‘Going to the Night Mountain’ received great praise for its fresh voice and imagination. From the perspective of the reader, it was an interesting poem with the address of the dinosaur. What was the most important part of this poem to you? (YEO)

A. I wanted to make it fun. Rather than paying attention to it, it was a poem that I wrote in desperation. I thought it would be good to be as light-hearted as possible, and I wrote this poem focusing on the anxiety that people would recognize. I was ashamed and happy at the same time that I could hear the concentrated voices of the readers. I think it was one of the few poems that I've focused on in my mind, taking away focus on the technical aspects.

 

Q. In the acceptance speech, you said you hoped the poem would be a joke. There are various kinds of jokes, such as pleasant jokes, meaningful jokes, friendly jokes, and lovely jokes. I wonder which of these jokes you wanted it to be like. (SEOL)

A. I wanted to cover all the different kinds of jokes you mentioned. A joke is a burst of laughter and then disappears in an instant. And after a long time, under a blanket, on the bus, I want readers to suddenly think of it and smile. Jokes become solemn and violent as they become grand. I thought a good joke should be lightly volatile on the spot, floating in the air and be forgotten. I thought it was the same for poems. I hope that the moment we write and read is just for that moment, that we don't give it a grand meaning, and that we don't use it to add weight to our life. I hope poetry can be a burst of laughter, a short breath of fresh air from a faraway place. No matter what kind of face it has, it's fun, meaningful, friendly, and lovely.

 

Q. Did you care about not expressing fear in a provocative way? (SUNG)

A. I didn't care. I just tried to express it from a child’s point of view. I think many of the expressions in the work are scary enough.

   Through our interviews, it was clear how much the author’s loved literature. They were people that showed a tremendous spirit for a challenge and pure passion for their work. We hope this interview will inspire Dankookians and we will cheer for many more future Dankook University students to walk along the path of success in the field of literature.


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