This major anthology presents one hundred poems drawn form a tradition spanning one thousand years of Korean poets writing in Classic Chinese. Kim Joh-gil captures the elegant simplicity and emotional complexity of the originals in three stunning translations. Up until the 17th century, the bulk of Korean poetry was written in Chinese, the language of poets, scholars, and monks. This work became an integral part of Korean literary tradition. Among the Flowering Reeds, which introduces this important poetic tradition to the English-speaking audience, includes 100 poems spanning more than 1,000 years. Lovers of Chinese and Japanese poetry will delight in these translations, which capture both the elegant simplicity and the emotional complexity of the originals.

Kim Jong-gilis a Professor Emeritus of English at Korea University in Seoul and is a member of the Korean Academy of Arts. His works of translation include The Snow Falling on Chagall’s Village: Poems of Kim Ch’un-Su. He is presently completing an anthology of modern Korean poetry.

“The poems are by turns personal, spontaneous, reflective, and occasionally dangerous—that is, politically suicidal—works penned by thoughtful Koreans from the ninth- through the early twentieth-centuries. Anyone interested in tasting classical Korean poetry… cannot do better than to start with this collection.”

– Multicultural Review

Borderland Roads is a selection of poems from the writer Kyun Ho, one of Korea's literary elite in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.  The book catalogs the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597-the only record of its kind of these events in poetry.  As writer, Kyun was an inheritor of the Chinese Tang style, becoming one of its first and foremost promulgators in Korea.  The poems in this book portray issues of social justice, artistic legacy and purpose, and the daily life of a Korean nobleman in the middle years of Korea's Choson Dynasty.

A selection of poems that catalogs the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597-the only record of its kind in poetry.  The poems in this book portray issues of social justice, artistic legacy and purpose., and the daily life of a Korean nobleman in the middle years of Korea's Choson Dynasty.

Kyun Ho (1569-1618)  was born into a noble family that for generations served Korea and her kings with distinction.  Part of Korea's literary elite, Ho wrote the first novel in Korean, Hong Kil-tong, which was recently the subject of a TV dramatization series popular in Asia; his criticism remains relevant in Korean literary studies to this day.  Ho's poetry, stylistically unusual in its time, is a poetry of plainspoken witness.  Ho lived through the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597, and his poetry is the only record of its kind on these events.  An outspoken social reformer, Ho's notoriety as an activist made him an easy target for political intrigues; in 1618, Ho was executed on false charges of treason as part of a political purge.

Ian Haight was the co-organizer and translator for the UN's global poetry readings held annually in Pusan, Korea from 2002-4.  He has been awarded translation grants from the Daesan Foundation, Korea Literary Translation Institute, and Baroboin Buddhist Foundation; in 2003, he was cited for translation excellence by the KLTI.  For more information, please visit ianhaight.com.

T'ae-yong Ho has been awarded several translation grants from the Daesan Foundation and Korea Literary Translation Institute.  Working from the original classical Chinese, his translations of Korean poetry have appeared in Runes, New Orleans Review, and Atlanta Review.  

“Ho Kyun's poetry is in the tradition of his master, the incomparable Tu Fu, while remaining fully his own. Writing nine centuries later, Ho's poetry strikes many parallels--the experiences of war and exile and constant struggle-- and his voice is similarly humane. This is rich and enlightening reading.”

--Sam Hamill 

“Although written four hundred years ago, the profound and spontaneous humanity of these poems will delight readers of any century. At their heart are the twin shadows of war and exile, but they are also a marvelous travelogue and a time-lapse revelation of one man’s personal joys and griefs. By turns feisty, tender, ironic, spiritual, and openly emotional, the collection give us a vivid portrait of a man living through an era of political violence and the disruption and chaos it caused. In reading Ho Kyun, I felt the thrill of discovering lost treasure. This is an important poet, and an important book. His words leave me with the eerie sense of a ghost surviving to speak truth that’s particularly relevant in our own chaotic era of corruption and war. Ho Kyun will live on my shelves next to the poet he most loved and emulated: Du Fu.”  

—Chase Twichell

These poems, written during and following the Korean War, reflect the reality of living in a country torn in half by political ideologies. Comparable to the Civil War in that it pitted brother against brother, the partitioning of the country following the war carried the bitterness forward into the present and created a situation that has kept families from reuniting and left an entire generation longing to go home.

Twenty-one poets, male and female, North Korean and South Korean, well-known and long forgotten, appear in this collection, the first of its kind in English. The poems reflect the reality of living in a country torn in half by political ideologies. An introduction by translator Ji-moon Suh places the poems and the poets within a historical context that describes the suffering and despair of pitting brother against brother.

Korea’s Zen tradition has always been vibrant and continues to thrive today. This book gives voice to the “Zen Mind” of Korea’s contemporary Zen Masters, articulated through koans and excerpts of conversations in the form of brief questions and answers with students and other teachers.

“Garden Chrysanthemums and First Mountain Snow is a delightful book that gives us the feel of the vital lively language of Zen in the Korean tradition.  The reader is offered a bird’s eye view of Zen dialogue, sometimes referred to as Dharma combat.  Included are vivid exchanges between Teacher and student as well as between various modern Korean Zen Masters.  A welcome addition to the growing body of literature on the Korean Zen Tradition.”

  —
Richard Shrobe (Wu Kwang) Guiding Teacher, Chogye International Zen Center of New York and author, Elegant Failure: A Guide to Zen Koans and Don’t Know Mind-The Spirit of Korean Zen.

“While reading this book of questions and answers, I stopped long enough to eat an apple and noticed that the seeds hidden inside were not really hidden.  And I wondered, are the enigmatic answers of these Korean Zen masters not also present in these rosy red questions?  The only way to find out is to eat the apple.  But if you do, why not spit out the seeds and plant your own tree? ”

                          —Bill Porter/Red Pine

Ian Haight (editor): Ian Haight is an award winning poet and translator, and the co-translator of Borderland Roads: Selected Poems of Ho Kyun.

Park, Hongjin (translator): is a graduate of Seoul National University School of Law, and Deputy Director of the Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

Eryn Michael Reager (translator): Was ordained as a Zen monk in both Thailand and Korea (1994, 1995).  Currently he is a nurse at Oregon University of Health Sciences.

First imprisioned in 1964, Chiha Kim was sentenced to death in 1974. His crime: writing poetry that provoked the military governmentof Chunghee Park. Worldwide efforts to save him were begun in Japan, and his sentence was commuted in 1980 following the assassination of Park. A legendary figure in SouthKorea, he won the Lotus Prize, generally regarded as the Third World's Nobel Prize, while imprisoned in 1975. Heart's Agony gathers peotry form all phases of his career, including poems that led to his imprisonment and torture and those written from prison.

“Often political poets seem long on politics but short on poetics. This is not the case with Chiha Kim.”

–Multicultural Review

“Kim Chiha is a virtuoso, entertaining as well as brilliant.”

–World Literature Today

This collection of stories by noted contemporary Korean writer Dong-ha Lee reflect the ordinary lives of people who have lived through the extraordinary struggles brought about by the Korean War and its aftermath. Exquisitely translated by Hyun-jae Yee Sallee, these stories by one of Korea’s most revered storytellers reflect poignantly on the lives of ordinary people in the midst of the economic miracle that has been taking place in Korea since the end of the Korean War. Having seen their homeland split in two, they cannot cope with the progress that is inexorably wiping out the last vestiges of the Korea they loved and knew. Lost and confused, they experience not only an identity crisis but question the entire meaning of life.

“This volume makes a poignant contribution to the literature of war.”

–World Literature Today

“Stark, challenging, memorable: the work of a superb literary talent.”

–Kirkus Reviews

“The selections from A Sketch of the Fading Sun… work to entertain and to provide glimpses into Korean history and culture… All the stories focus on the plight of women in a male-dominated society… but there is hope. We perceive a glimmer of spirit in these women.”

–World Literature Today

“[Park’s] female characters are independent, resistant to subjugation, and colorful… Readers are treated to a view of the world, as seen by learning how to be strong.”

–Korean Quarterly

“[A] gritty, elegiac collection… Park masterfully explains life in a society in which oppression is never far from hand.”

–Choice

“‘Momma’s Stake’… is a minor masterpiece of contemporary literature… Park… has delicately calibrated both the potentiality and the price of modernizations in the lives of her tragic heroines through her beautifully crafted literary vignettes. Hyun-jae Sallee’s translation from Korean to English is just about flawless.”

–Multicultural Review

Tong-Gyu Hwang is recognized as one of the mostimportant poets in contemporary South Korea. Strong Wind At Mishi Pass draws work from his three most recent books.

The first widely available translation in English of one of South Korea’s most important contemporary poets. Tong-Gyu Hwang is recognized as one of the most important poets in contemporary South Korea. This volume draws work from three of his recent books and includes a number of his Wind Burial poems that haven't appeared in English previously.

“Hwang uniquely combines bold contemporary images and traditional Oriental spareness to reveal the integrity of a world where nature and human beings must rely on each other in the face of all that would strip away meaning and dignity.”
-Grace Loving Gibson

“Paradox and mystery rest comfortably side by side in these reflective poems… Hwang’s quiet discoveries… keep pulling me back to Strong Winds at Mishi Pass, for insights as strong as any elixir.”

–Pacific Reader

“The beauty of these stories is the simplicity of the image-invoking writing. As states in the preface, the Korean style of literature can be compared to ‘watching a gentle ripple on a pond.’” —Copley News Service

“Ick-suh Yoo’s story… is the anthology’s high point, partially because of the author’s skillful use of the first-person narrative… Wan-suh Park’s portrait of a woman seeking… to resolve an inner conflict… is both gentle and perceptive.”

–Publisher’s Weekly

“Moon Chung-hee, one of the most celebrated poets in Korea, has put out a collection of lyrical poems titled "Woman on the Terrace" that sheds light on the constant conflict between the desire for freedom and the limitations of domestic life. The new English poems, published in New York, reflect her poignant perception about a poetic self-examination, evoking moments of bewilderment and hopeful resignation to the passage of time and imprisoning conditions of her life. The poems also demonstrate Moon's rebellious language concerning the conditions of women, maintaining a certain poetic tension throughout the book. The repeated theme of the poems in the collection is a woman's experience of confinement. Moon twists the restrictive state into the literary expression of an ardent longing for freedom, and what is notable is her sharp observations that put together social and natural conditions. Besides cooking pots, shopping, and the sacrificed lives of women, she gives us a clear vision of human lives amidst natural phenomena: wildflowers, rain, wind, and fields that take her out into the open, to clear and constant awareness of mortality. Moon's anecdotal and autobiographical poems explore chiefly the desire to escape the fetters of domesticity as a vehicle for understanding a woman's journey, but at the same time her contemplative tone suggests that something larger and more mature is at work in life. “

— The Korea Herald

"Moon's translated poems are likable and  readable to Western readers who do not have a knowledge of Korean poetry and literature. Her poems are sophisticated, bold and beautiful.""

-Yearn Hong Choi - Korean Quarterly