Authors & Asia: Translation/Transnation — Contemporary Poetry with Kim Kyung-Ju and Guests

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To celebrate the English-language version of his bestselling collection, Korean poet Kim Kyung-Ju commences his debut tour through the United States at Asia Society Texas Center, in collaboration with Gulf Coast, A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts. Kim will read in concert with his Tucson-born, Seoul-based translator Jake Levine. The multi-lingual program also features Luisa Muradyan and Henk Rossouw, students from the prestigious Creative Writing Program at University of Houston, presenting translation and transnational work in Ukrainian and languages of South Africa, respectively.

The evening kicks off at 6:30 pm with a meet-and-mingle with the poets.

Gulf Coast is a biannual print journal publishing literary fiction, nonfiction, visual art, critical art writing, and poetry. Housed in the English/Creative Writing Department at the University of Houston, it is entirely student run and supported largely through local and national foundations.

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About Kim Kyung-Ju

Kim Kyung-Ju is one of the most decorated and popular younger writers in Korea. His first volume of poetry, I AM A SEASON THAT DOES NOT EXIST IN THE WORLD, has sold over 20,000 copies. He is the author of over a dozen books of poetry, essays, and translation. Additionally, his poetic-dramas have been performed in Seoul and New York. Apart from writing, Kim has curated several art exhibitions, is the organizer of the Penguin Rhyme Club, and produces inter-disciplinary, collaborative projects with musicians and artists. Most recently he took part in the poetic hip-hop project Poetic Justice with the acclaimed Korean rapper MC Meta.

About Jake Levine

Jake Levine is a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at Seoul National University. He is an editor at Spork Press and is the author of two chapbooks, The Threshold of Erasure (Spork Press) and Vilna Dybbuk (Country Music). Jake is from Tucson, AZ.

About Luisa Muradyan

Originally from the Ukraine, Luisa Muradyan Tannahill is currently a PhD student at UH, where she is an Editor at Gulf Coast. Her previous work has appeared or is forthcoming in Blackbird, West Branch, Ninth Letter, Mudlark, and PANK among others.

About About Henk Rossouw

Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, Henk Rossouw has published poems in The Paris Review and The Boston Review. He has published nonfiction in The Threepenny Review and fiction in Tin House. In 2009, as one of the winners of the Poetry Society of America's Bright Lights/Big Verse Contest, he read his work in Times Square. A PhD student in Literature and Creative Writing (UH), Henk has taught creative writing courses to undergraduates at UH and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, to high school students in the summer at Amherst College and in Prague, and to the general public through Inprint Houston. He serves as a poetry editor for Gulf Coast.

Bank of America is the presenting sponsor of performing arts and cultural programs, with generous support from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, the Hearst Foundations, and Mickey Rosenau & Dr. Ellen Gritz. Lead support is provided by the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, The Clayton Fund, the Favrot Fund, and the Wortham Foundation. Support is also provided by Friends of Performing Arts & Culture, a premier group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing the best in public programming to Houston. This program is presented in collaboration with Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts.

Asia Society Presenting Sponsor

Bank of America